Chicken & Pumpkin Cream Sauce Pasta

When I run out of actual planned meals for the week, but haven't made it back to the store yet, I like to play a version of Chopped with myself. I find a protein and a starch or grain and see what I can whip up with them. This week, I was left with a pound of chicken breast and some whole grain pasta. I also still have a ton of pumpkin left, and thought maybe I could incorporate it into a chicken pasta dish. So I scoured Pinterest for "chicken pumpkin pasta" and came across this pin of this recipe.

I glanced at the ingredients and figured I would have everything I needed. As it turned out, I didn't have any chicken broth or heavy whipping cream. But I was able to find substitutes for both of them, so I forged ahead. And then I realized I didn't have any sage, so I looked up spices that typically accompany sage and used the ones I had from that list instead. The recipe you see here is a result of all those substitutions, a sort of Frankenstein's monster of mish-mashed ingredients that I figured would be "good enough."

Don't worry, unlike Frankenstein, this story has a happy ending.

Ingredients

8 oz whole grain linguine 

2 Tbsp butter

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch strips

2 cloves pressed or chopped garlic

1 cup canned pumpkin puree

1/2 cup water + 1/2 Tbsp olive oil mixed (sub for 1/2 cup chicken broth)

1/2 cup milk + 1/4 cup melted butter mixed ( sub for 3/4 cup whipping cream)

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp rosemary

1 tsp chili powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions: 

1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and keep warm.

2. While pasta is cooking, melt butter in 12-inch skillet until it sizzles, then add the chicken and garlic. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until chicken is cooked through (8 to 10 minutes). Add chicken and garlic to pasta.

3. Combine the pumpkin puree, chicken broth (or substitute), whipping cream (or substitute), herbs, spices and salt in medium bowl. 

4. Pour over pasta mixture and stir to coat. Heat everything up over medium heat until heated through (3 to 5 minutes).

The end result was actually pretty good! My husband said it was "surprisingly good" (a glowing recommendation if ever I've heard one). It was pretty devoid of color, though. If I were to make it again, I might try it the way it was originally intended. But without having the original version to compare this one to, I think this was a pretty good substitute.

This has been another installment of The Pintester Movement, where I pick a pin and just go for it, win or lose. I'm counting this one as a mostly-win, since all of the substitutions didn't render the dish inedible!

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Chicken Enchilada Soup Recipe

adapted from here

 This recipe is not your typical "throw ingredients into pot, walk out door" kind of crockpot recipe. It requires preparation of the sauce before you can combine everything in the pot. So while it's perfect for me-- I can prepare the sauce and throw everything together in the morning when I still have the motivation and energy-- it may not be the ideal crockpot recipe for working moms. But it would be perfect on the weekends, when you can prepare it and then go do something fun for a few hours, then come home to an already-cooked dinner!

Ingredients

3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
½ cup chicken broth
2 cups milk
1 can (15 ounce) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (14.5 ounce) Rotel diced tomatoes and jalapenos
2 tbsp taco seasoning
1 package (10 ounce) frozen corn
½ cup onion, chopped
½ cup bell pepper, diced
2 cans (10 ounce) Enchilada sauce
2 whole chicken breasts
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir in flour; keep stirring until smooth and bubbly. Remove from heat and add the chicken broth and ½ cup of the milk, a little at a time, stirring to keep smooth. Return to heat. Bring sauce to a gentle boil. Cook, stirring constantly, until it thickens. In a large bowl, whisk together the enchilada sauce and chicken broth mixture . Gradually whisk in remaining milk until smooth. Whisk in taco seasoning until blended. Set aside.

 2. In a crockpot, combine drained beans, tomatoes, corn, onion, and bell pepper. Place the chicken breasts on top of the mixture. Pour sauce mixture over ingredients in cooker. Cover; cook on low heat for 6 to 8 hours or on high for 3 to 4 hours. When you are ready to serve, shred chicken (I use two forks; if you have a better method that doesn't involve removing the chicken I'd love to hear it) and give the whole thing a stir.

  Top with cheese and tortilla chips (like with chili and Fritos).

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Pancetta Wrapped Stuffed Chicken

Last night I was going to make bruschetta chicken. But then I realized that it was pretty much the same thing as the bruschetta salmon, and that wasn't really blog-worthy. So I challenged myself to come up with something different, and this is that something.

Fortunately, a friend got me a meat tenderizer over the weekend (after I made an offhand comment that I still didn't have one... how sweet), so I just pounded out the chicken breasts, stuffed them with spinach and parmesan, and wrapped them in some leftover pancetta. Bam.

Ingredients

4 thin sliced chicken breasts

8 cups spinach

1/2 cup shredded parmesan (give or take)

4 slices pancetta (or bacon)

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°. Saute the spinach.

2. Put the chicken breasts in a sheet of plastic wrap and pound out until about 1/2 inch thick. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Place spinach and parmesan on top, then roll the chicken breast up.

3. Place in baking pan and wrap with slices of pancetta (or bacon). At this point I would normally secure the wraps with toothpicks, but alas, I had none. It worked out okay in the end, but if you have toothpicks, I'd use them.

4. Bake for 35 minutes and enjoy!

I'd almost finished eating before I remembered to take a picture of what it looks like inside. How pretty is that? 

This was a huge crowd pleaser. Even my very picky little sister enjoyed it (and said I should make it a regular thing)! If I didn't have this blog, I never would have made this dish. How's that for a great hobby? 

Hope everybody is having a wonderful Tuesday!

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