Chicken Spaghetti

This meal was a hit tonight with my family. It kind of has an alfredo taste to it, but it's neat that it's a baked/casserole-like dish. It's definitely a recipe that takes some time to put together and then bake, but it's well worth the effort. Probably something you'd want to start preparing about 2 hours ahead of when you want to eat.

Chicken Spaghetti

3-4 chicken breasts or equivalent (I used boneless skinless, but, you can use bone-in or thigh meat)

2-3 carrots, peeled and cut into small pieces

1/2 large vidalia onion, cut into small pieces

black pepper (to taste)

1/2 tsp. fresh minced garlic (or garlic powder, to taste)

1 cup sour cream

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Double Recipe of Condensed Cream Soup

16 oz. spaghetti (I use Tinkyada's Spaghetti)

1 cup broth reserved

1. Bring chicken along with onion, carrots, pepper, and garlic to a boil in large pot of water. Simmer until chicken is cooked. Temp chicken to 165-F.

2. Save broth to boil spaghetti, but reserve one cup.

3. Hand-shred chicken once it's cool enough to handle.

4. Cook spaghetti in remaining pot of broth and drain. Set aside along with chicken.

5. Mix carrots, onion, condensed cream soup, 1 cup broth, sour cream, Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, black pepper in a large bowl.

6. Add drained spaghetti and chicken. Pour into a 13X9 pan and bake for 30 minutes at 4oo degrees. Top with mozzarella and bake about 10 minutes - until mozzarella is melted.

Blondies

While on our vacation to the Boston area last week, we visited a Whole Foods. It was my first time going into a Whole Foods store and my first impression was that it looked like a typical supermarket. How awesome! The only difference was that it was a whole grocery store that carried products that the Nature's Marketplace within our Wegmans grocery store carry...and a whole lot more. We easily spent $60+ grabbing this item and that item off the shelves that I hadn't ever seen out our way.

One of the items we bought and just tried last night were the Namaste Foods brand Blondie Mix. I opted to make the whole package (9x13 pan) all at once rather than breaking it up into two 8x8 pans. I'm glad I did, because I think an 8x8 pan of Blondies would have been completely devoured a day later, so at least I have some for a couple of extra days.

They are super moist and really easy to make. I literally had them mixed up and in the oven in about 5 minutes. I think the only thing that I wasn't expecting was the flavor. They aren't bad tasting, just not what I remember a "Blond Brownie" tasting like. I think it might be the Arrowroot flour used in the ingredients. Again, it's not a BAD flavor, just different than I was expecting. We all love them here and we highly recommend them if you can find them. Namaste Foods has a store locator function on their website and I was able to locate stores in our area that carry some of their products. I just don't know which of their products those stores carry.

More from Betty Crocker!

After tasting the yellow cake and finding it delicious and my daughter and husband giving two thumbs up to the brownies, I went online to see about gluten-free frosting. Betty Crocker is going to begin labeling their pre-made frostings as gluten-free. They have their gluten-free FAQ's HERE. What a real blessing this company has been to those of us who are living gluten-free! I can make my daughter a birthday cake that tastes good and use frosting that most kids are familiar with! How wonderful!