Yummy Recipe - Cajun Chicken Pasta

Oh look at you lucky people...getting two posts from me in the same day!

So I just posted about my new love of Pinterest and all the different things that I have pinned.  Another great thing that I love to pin is recipes.  LOTS and LOTS of recipes.  This is one of the first one that I tried and I absolutely love it!  My man loves it to saying that it is way better as leftovers.  I would have to agree because all of the spices and flavors get the chance to meld together into super yummy goodness!

So here it is.  I pinned the recipe a while ago and this is the original site but I did some adjusting to fit my needs and whims and desires.  Enjoy!



Cajun Chicken Pasta

8 oz uncooked linguine (or a little bit more than 1/2 of the box)
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut in 1 in or bit sized pieces
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
8 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 red onion, sliced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 medium tomatoes
1 cup of chicken broth (I just boil a cup of water and then toss in a chicken bullion cube.)
1/3 cup milk
1 Tbsp flour
3 Tbsp cream cheese
olive oil
chili powder
season salt
garlic powder
cayenne pepper

1) Prep all veggies and chicken.
2) In a small blender make a "slurry" by adding milk, flour, and cream cheese in a blending til your heart's content. :)  Set aside.
3) Boil pasta using directions on box - I use the giant pot that I have because everything will go into this in the end.
4) In a large non-stick skillet/pan add in a bit of olive oil (I don't really measure it but its enough to swirl around and coat the bottom of the pan.) at medium-high heat and toss in half of the cut up chicken.  (Last time I tried to put all of the chicken in at once and it took a long time to cook and make sure that everything was cooked all of the way.)  Season with the four spices as you see fit.  Jeremy likes lots of spice and I can generally handle it so I go REALLY heavy on all spices.  Note: original recipe calls for Cajun seasoning but I decided it was silly to pay for the only one I found, Emeril's, so I looked at the ingredient list and realized I already had all that junk.  
5) Make sure chicken is all the way cooked.  Put on a clean plate and add more olive oil, rest of chicken, and same amount of spices as the first batch.  Once all chicken is cooked, take out of skillet.
6) Use more olive oil for the pan at medium heat and ass bell peppers, onions, and garlic.  Season as you did chicken.  Cook (saute) until tender - 10ish minutes.
7) Add mushrooms and tomatoes and cook about 3-4 more minutes or until all veggies are tender.  Adjust seasonings if necessary.
8) At this point the pasta is probably done, drain it and put it back in the big pot.
9) Quickly blend "slurry" mixture one more time and then mix with chicken broth.
10) Add sauce, veggies, and chicken to giant pot with pasta and turn to low heat.  Toss well to coat and continue cooking until all ingredients are hot.

YUUUUUUUUUUUMMMY :)



This makes A LOT and I am so glad about that.  Yay for leftovers!


Side note: It takes a bit of time to get everything chopped up and the whole thing from start to finish can take about an hour or more from first chop to table top.  Just give yourself time...but you will smell the yumminess for awhile and taste the yumminess soon enough!

Pinteresting :)

Ok so like everybody I know...well everybody but my bff Laura...I have become 'addicted' in a way to Pinterest!  I have pinned many a picture and design element and cute saying and recipe to last me a while.  One thing that I have been pinning recently is different ways of cleaning.  Do you know how useful a new or used dryer sheet could be? No?  Check it out here.  Well I haven't tried any of these yet but I did try one cleaning idea today.

My roommate and I have lived in our apartment for 3 years now and those little 'spill' trays on the stove have gotten really gross...because we basically haven't done anything to get them clean in those 3 years.  So when I saw this idea on Pinterest I was happy to try it.

So this is what my drip pans looked like earlier today...

          

Not horrible but definitely gross and the burnt-on-junk often smelled up the apartment.

The post says that all you need to do is:

1) Spray with WD-40

2) Let sit for 30 minutes

3) Scrub with soap and water

4) Ta-da good as new

Well...it seemed fairly simple so why not give it a try.  I took my drip pans outside because WD-40 is gross and smells bad and can kill you if you inhale too much of it.  I used old grocery bags to collect any drippage from landing on my balcony or my floor when I brought them back through the living room.

And I waited the 30 minutes...

Then it was time to use some elbow grease and attempt to get those things clean.  I used the hottest water my poor little hands could stand and used regular dish soap.  I also used one of those sponges with the extra scrubby stuff on one side.  This was the outcome from lots scrubbing and soaking.

   

So I didn't get the "Ta-da good as new" feeling or result but they definitely look a WHOLE lot better and will hopefully alleviate some of the burnt smell when I cook on the stove.

I did make sure that I cleaned and rinsed the pans several times to make sure I got all of the WD-40 off so hopefully I won't explode the next time I use the stove :)  

Grade for this Pin: B- for general ease and short time period to complete task but with slightly less than promised results.  I bet those results would have been improved had they been cleaned sooner.