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!

Super Saturday...Extravaganza

OK...so since I have lived in the area for a year and a half, I decided it might be time to spend a Saturday exploring it. And with whom is it best to do said exploring? Only a girl's bff, that's who! (or is it whom?)

First stop, The Green Bean. And just so you know, you can click name to get there or (I love the webpage address) go to greenbeanspaceship.com. Yeah a coffee shop and space ship all in one! Anyway, one of the girls I work with and her husband run/own two of these coffee shops in Fayetteville and I thought it would be fun to it check out. Obviously I don't drink coffee but their hot chocolate was AWE-SOME and the coffee-table-esq books and magazines on the table provided lots of enjoyment. It was interesting to listen to/eavesdrop on other people's random conversations. Then there was a point when Laura mentioned she likes analyzing other people's personalities so I got my own analysis...possibly to be explained to you at a later day; we shall see.

While at the coffee shop I mention that it might be fun to go by the Ft. Bragg Flea Market and Laura got this "heck no!" face goin' on. She doesn't like the idea of going to somewhere called a FLEA market and I told her it might be good to not touch/buy any fabricy items where fleas can congregate. Furthermore I thought it might be a good idea to think of it like a thrift store and went further to propose that we maybe suggest they re-name it to be Ft. Bragg Thrift Market instead to stave off any future grossed out feelings. AND since by going to the newly named, by us, thrift market we would be close, it might be a good idea to just swing by the used books store. Laura wasn't thrilled with these ideas because of the thought of spending money but alas, she conceded. We put a spending limit of $10 on ourselves so that we didn't over-do it.

We decide to go to the book store first (it was on the right side of the road) and let me just tell you that bookstores in general are some of my favorite places but slightly used books for cheap - you can't go wrong! Walking in Laura decided she wasn't going to spend any money - this one was gonna be tough for her so I remained skeptical. I on the other hand went straight for the FREE book shelf and picked out four books, 3 for me and 1 for research for my 6th graders - it is about Latin America. We then went to the 'Love Inspired' section and proceeded to read and laugh at the back descriptions of at least 20 books. I used restraint and didn't get anything from this section! I know it is shocking! I did end up getting a movie about Anne Frank - also to use at school - and 2 more leisure reading books for me. All-in-all I think I did really well...$6 - 6 books and a movie! Check me out! Laura, although tempted by many a cookbook, was able to stick to her plan of not buying anything. Yay her!

Now on to the flea market. One word...INTERESTING. We walked around for awhile looking but not buying. Some things - plates, glassware - looked like things we might buy but neither of us were really in a buying mood so we moved on. And then we went inside... Cue creepy music and smells (I couldn't think of an appropriate adjective for the "smells" so use your imagination). We meandered though the many stalls lined with chicken wire and definitely were not in a buying mood at this point so we moved quickly, surely missing out on many great items and deals but its whatever (as the kids are saying these days). AND moving on.

Now it is 3 o'clock, we have yet to eat anything today and what comes to mind? Olive Garden! Since Laura has gift cards from students and I got one from Santa Claus, why not? Now this is not your typical outing to Olive Garden. Because of a recent water main break in Fayetteville, there is concern with bacteria and other gross things in the water causing many places to operate out of their norm. Insert disposable everything.
Plasticware, styrofoam plates, to-go cups, paper napkins, plastic to-go containers for salad and soup...EVERYTHING! But it was great! Our wonderful waitress Tanithea was so not happy with how things had to be done bc of water issue and it made us laugh the whole time...the poor thing. I can understand how it would mess up your flow. They even served Coke products from 2 liter bottles! Hopefully for Tanithea's sake, all the water tests come back ok for tomorrow and she can get her groove back. But really it might be one of my best trips to OG. Of course the food and raspberry lemonade was delicious, as always!

I then spent an hour at the car wash to remove salt/sand from recent snow. Not fun but I rocked out to good tunes while I waited!

Laura and I also noticed that we like to add Extravaganza on to everything now and why not today as well! GREAT GREAT day!

Christmas Movie Weekend Extravaganza!!!

OH yeah...it happened!!

Laura and I planned this long weekend where we would eat junk food and watch cheeeeeezzzzyy Christmas movies. You can find out more of the planning here but let me just tell you it was a success!

I'm am pretty sure we didn't get through even half of the movies that we wanted but there was A LOT of junk food consumed and 3 full days of movies. We had a blast and I'm thinking that we should make this an annual weekend so anyone that wants to join us next year, claim your seat today!

Food that was eaten:
cookies from students
sausage,cheese, and crackers from one of those Christmas package thingys
hot apple cider
sparkling cider
cinnamon rolls
chips and french onion dip
lentil stew - that was all Laura; I chose not to be adventurous
leftovers

Be jealous!

What were some lessons learned from this weekend?
- Fun romantic things happen around Christmas time.
- Crazy supernatural things happen that bring joy to the world around Christmas.
- All I need to classify a movie as a Christmas movie is for it to be set on or around Christmas whether the time of the year has anything to do with the story or not (ie Sleepless in Seattle).
- I love Christmas!!! (I didn't just learn this now but reaffirmed it.)

I will admit that we did have to take a short but much needed break from the cheezyness. I hope Laura kept track of the movies we watched so we don't repeat.

What an awesome way to start off my two weeks of vacation!

I love the Crock-Pot!

I spend 5 minutes throwing stuff into a pot at 6 in the morning, come home at 5 and presto! Dinner! Such a great invention! I will be eating vegetable soup all week but I think this fall/winter/"we don't really know what season we are in" season is a great time to eat soup!

I would love to claim this recipe but I got it from Betty Crocker. Can't wait to try some more of her great Crock Pot ideas this chilly season.

I'll let you know how it goes!