#3 Baked Cheesy Chicken Macaroni

Never do I walk to the grocery store without a list in my hand as I pull my handy red cart behind me and try to avoid the many potholes and precarious "sidewalks". One might think that a list would prevent me from forgetting an important ingredient or discovering that the items were picked up without rhyme or reason. However, as it often happens, I opened my fridge tonight staring at the same old things I always seem to have on hand: chicken, vegetables, fruit, 1/2 gallon of milk, a stick of butter, a few slices of cheese and the packages of condiments collected from my favorite local sandwich shop.

With those ingredients in mind and not wanting to eat the same-old veggie with pasta/rice dinner, I decided to do a new and simple little creation tonight, which we shall call....

Baked Cheesy Chicken Macaroni

Ingredients:

2 Chicken Breasts

2 cups Whole-Wheat Fusilli

Olive Oil

Handful of Mushrooms

1 Green Pepper

1 Tomato

1/2 Onion

1 can of Cream of Mushroom/Chicken Soup

1 cup of Chicken Broth

Garlic Powder

Salt and Pepper

Cheese (Any cheese is fine - I used a white Mexican cheese called "Chihuahua")

Steps:

(Steps 1, 2 and 3 are somewhat simultaneous)

1. Boil water to make the whole-wheat pasta. When water is boiling, add the pasta until it is soft to the touch. Drain.

2. Boil the chicken. To do this, make sure the chicken is defrosted and place into a large pot. Cover with cool water. Put over medium heat and let simmer/boil for 10 minutes without letting the water get out of control. Drain the water and cut/break apart the tenderly cooked chicken.

3. While the water and chicken are boiling, chop the green pepper, onion, tomato and slice the mushrooms. Cover the base of a pan with olive oil and saute the vegetables. Sprinkle on garlic powder and salt and pepper. Once the vegetables are softened, pour in the cream of mushroom/chicken soup as well as the chicken broth and heat for just a couple minutes.

4. After finishing the first 3 steps, add the pasta, chicken and soup/veggie mixture into a large bowl and mix together.

5. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the mixture into a glass 9 x 13 dish. Sprinkle the entire thing with cheese. Bake for about 30 minutes. Let cool slightly before serving.

Buen Provecho!