Tex Mex Chicken Pasta

Recipe courtesy of: laurenslatest.com

3/4 lb. think spaghetti

3 Tbsp. butter

1 cup diced yellow onion

2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

1 cup chicken stock

1 cup milk

1/2 lb. white cheddar cheese, grated

1 Tbsp. chopped jalapenos

1/2 Tbsp. jalapeno juice

1/2 tsp. cumin

Salt and pepper, to taste

2 cups cooked, shredded chicken (I used leftover rotisserie chicken)

3 Tbsp. chopped cilantro

Cook pastas according to package directions. Melt butter and saute onions until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in flour and cook 2 minutes. Slowly whisk in chicken broth and milk to prevent lumps. Increase heat to thicken sauce. Sprinkle in grated cheese and stir until well blended with sauce. Stir in cumin, salt, pepper, jalapenos, jalapeno juice, chicken, cilantro, and pasta. Toss to coat everything evenly in sauce. 

I have "liked" at least 30 different recipe pages on Facebook, and the number slowly grows as I find more pages that I love. It's bad enough that I have so many recipes saved on Pinterest, so to have Facebook to add fuel to the recipe fire is really quite ridiculous. Nonetheless, I have plenty of wonderful pages that I follow that inspire me to want to add new meals/desserts to our recipe rotation. Unfortunately I don't have the time (or the money) to try every single recipe that I drool over, so I have to pick and choose (which is REALLY hard). I saw this recipe yesterday on Lauren's Latest, and lucky for us, we already had everything at home. We just had a rotisserie chicken the night before, and the leftovers were originally slated to become a wonderful chicken salad. But this recipe happened to appear in my newsfeed, and so my plans quickly changed. 

This was absolutely delicious! Ding-a-ling me added 2 cups of chicken broth instead of just one, so it was a bit more runny than I wanted it to be. And of course, I didn't realize this until just now while posting the recipe :) Ah, the joys! The amazing thing is this recipe passed the "lunch test" A.K.A, if it isn't good leftover, we don't make it again. It may sound crazy, but it is a must that a recipe is one that we can take for lunch the next day. So leftover lovers rejoice! It's great the next day! I highly suggest using a rotisserie chicken if you can. It was tender and so full of flavor. And if you don't have white cheddar, don't sweat it! I had a ton of shredded cheddar on hand, and it was wonderful.

Spicy Sausage Pasta

1 Tbsp. olive oil

14 oz. smoked turkey sausage

1.5 cups diced onions

2 Tbsp. minced garlic

2 cups chicken broth (I used a 14.5 oz can)

1 (10 oz.) can Rotel tomatoes, not drained

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

8 oz. mini farfalle pasta

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 cup Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

1/3 cup thinly sliced scallions, optional

Add olive oil to an oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add sausage and onions and cook until lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add broth, tomatoes, cream, pasta, salt, and pepper; stir. Bring to a boil, cover skillet, and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer until pasta is tender, about 15 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and stir in 1/2 cup cheese. Top with remaining cheese and sprinkle with scallions. Broil until cheese is melted and lightly browned.

I love Pinterest. I love it so much that I wish my job could just be "Pinterest Recipe Tester". Because to be honest, that's probably the only way I would EVER be able to make it through all of the recipes I have pinned. I would be doing good to even try one new recipe a week, to be honest. But between work and life in general, we tend to stick to recipes we know because I've made them so many times that I have them memorized and can just make a grocery list in my head. I originally posted this recipe on July 16, 2013. It was the first time I had made dinner in weeks because I had just turned 8 months pregnant, and I had honestly lost all energy to cook by the time I got home from work every night. The wonderful thing about that post is that we had no idea that our son would be here two days later! He came a month early, but was perfectly healthy. Maybe it was this dish that really got things kickin'! This dish is truly wonderful. I double it because we love it leftover. In fact, we can both have it for dinner, I will take it for lunch the next day, and then we will have it again the next night. I think I calculated it out to be about $2.00 per serving. You can't beat that! Even better? It's a one pot meal! Delicious AND easy?! I'm in!