Recipe: Chicken and Spinach Pasta

Hello friends!

So…it’s been awhile, eh? Sorry about that. Life has gotten a little crazier over the past week, what with my new job and then my volunteer responsibilities, which are only going to get a lot crazier until May 18th, which is when the convention that I’m planning is.

In other news…actually, I have no other news. I’ve just been reading through my box of books that I ordered last week. Unfortunately, I really didn’t like Masque of the Red Death, and wish I hadn’t bought it. I won’t be posting a review about it either, because I don’t have nice things to say about it. On the other hand, I absolutely loved Kill Me Softly, so expect the review for that tomorrow. That is if things go according to plan, which they usually don’t. -_-

Anywho! So this recipe is a bit delayed, but here it is anyway. I made this dish last week, and made my own adjustments, since I like my food a bit spicier than usual (what can I do? I’m South Asian!). So feel free to add salt and spices according to your taste 🙂

I wasn’t planning on sharing this recipe, so I didn’t take any pictures during the process. But it’s pretty simple, regardless.

Here you go…hope you enjoy!

Chicken and Spinach Pasta

Ingredients:

1 package penne or rigatoni pasta
1 package fresh spinach
1 lb. boneless chicken
1 1/2 cup pasta sauce
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 package cream cheese
1 cup mozzarella cheese
Spices to taste
Parmesan cheese to garnish

What to do:

1. Bring a big pot of water to boil. Add your pasta and stir it every few minutes, so it doesn’t stick together.
2. Add your spinach right into the water in the last minute of cooking. Drain your pasta and spinach and set aside.
3. In a skillet, start cooking your chicken, adding your salt and spices right to the chicken. I also added this Italian herb mix that I got from Costco, to give the chicken some more flavour.
4. Once the chicken is almost cooked, add the pasta sauce and diced tomatoes. Bring it to a boil, while stirring constantly. Reduce the heat to low, letting the sauce simmer and thicken, and letting the chicken cook through.
5. Next, stir in the cream cheese until it’s completely mixed in and the colour changes from red to pinkish.
6. Mix in your pasta, adding only half first so that it gets stirred in. Add the rest once you’ve mixed it all in, making sure the sauce coats it all.
7. Now, just sprinkle with your mozzarella and parmesan, stirring until it all melts.
8. Scoop out into plates, sprinkle some more cheese on top, and enjoy!

So technically, in the original recipe, you’re supposed to bake the pasta for 20 mins, but I found that it completely dried out the sauce, and I found it so much yummier when I test-tasted it from the pot.

Also, this particular recipe served my family of 5 adults, and we had leftovers for the next day. But of course, adjust the recipe accordingly, depending on how many people you plan on serving.

And that’s it! It’s not that hard, and the ingredients are ones I tend to have on hand all the time. Plus, it made for a nice change from white sauce pasta, which my family is apparently sick of, so they loved it. The sauce is nice and creamy, and I loved the spinach with the chicken.

Let me know if you make this and how you get on!

Thanks for reading 🙂

Ikhlas