Lazy chicken pasta sauce

With all this baking going on, plus cooking for guests for my birthday party, I needed something really easy for dinner. This is one of those meals where I didn't really have a plan, I just went to the store and tossed some stuff in the cart.

What I tossed in the cart (and/or used for dinner) was:


1 T. butter plus 1 T. olive oil
1 whole roasted chicken, cut into chunks
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 red onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 c. cream
1 can of crushed tomatoes
3 T. basil, finely chopped
1/4 c. freshly grated parmesan cheese (I always have parmesan cheese in my freezer ready to grate)
Salt and pepper
Pasta - I threw some mozzarella, sun-dried tomato, and basil filled Girasole into the cart as I whizzed by.

The result became Lazy chicken pasta sauce.

In a medium saucepan, heat butter and olive oil. Sauté onion for about 3 minutes, then add bell pepper and garlic and sauté until bell pepper starts to soften, about 2-3 minutes. Add cream and crushed tomatoes, then bring to a boil. Let simmer for a few minutes to thicken, then add parmesan cheese, basil, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir in chicken chunks and heat through. Serve over pasta. 

The toddler mostly just wanted to eat chicken, which is not surprisingly one of the few words she can say clearly. She did open up her little pasta pockets and eat the filling. The big girl opened her pasta pockets and discarded the filling, eating the pasta part. She loved the flavor of the sauce, and dipped her naked pasta pieces in it, while trying to avoid the bell pepper chunks. I do believe she ate some of the other solid ingredients. She did ask what made it orange, but I deftly changed the subject, because any sauces containing known and/or visible tomato contaminents are generally deemed inedible. Just ask Lasagne and Spaghetti Bolognese. We had hubby's Spaghetti Bolognese for dinner two days ago, and bribery and threats were involved in her consumption of just two spoons' worth of sauce. What she doesn't know, doesn't hurt her.

Friday chicken with pasta...on a Monday

I don't know what makes this Friday chicken with pasta. When I found the recipe (now tweaked, because I tweak everything), originally from Coop, that is what it was titled. Here in Sweden, Friday is traditionally chicken day (at least according to the commercials) so maybe that's it. However, nowadays Swedes eat tacos on Fridays. At my house we aren't that rigid. Every day is chicken day. Just ask my husband. He would probably tell you that he has been forced to eat chicken Ad Nauseum for the past 11+ years that we have lived together. But he would say it with a twinkle in his eye, because, like I mentioned, the man eats anything.

At my house, Monday is one of the following:

1. I-went-shopping-yesterday-and-have-fresh-produce-to-use-before-it-goes-bad day
2. I-am-rested-after-the-weekend-and-full-of-culinary-energy-and-creativity day
3. I-worked-my-butt-off-all-weekend-and-am-exhausted day

This week, number three is the best fit. Also, I had some cream cheese to use up in the fridge, leftover from making Armadillo eggs. I was a bit apprehensive to the reception I was expecting from my elder daughter. She, like most children, find mushrooms to be strange and scary things. Heck, I find them borderline freaky. They are fungi, people. But, being an adult, I have learned to stop thinking about it and just eat them. My husband, on the other hand, is a mushroom-junkie. In addition to the fungal aspect, the big girl has recently decided that she doesn't like warm bell peppers. She has always eaten them and liked them up until now. Despite knowing that this was a recipe for disaster, I went ahead. 

Making dinner with a crying toddler clinging to your legs is challenging. But we managed it. Between trying to figure out what the child wanted (which seemed to be the liver paste box, a.k.a. leverpastej, and a knife - God forbid we try to put it on some bread) and sauté the chicken, mushrooms, onions, and the rest, the pasta pot boiling over, and my husband adding the cream before all the veggies were in, we somehow made a meal. I have no idea how we do it every day. 

Just as it was simmering away and ready to bring to the table, a different disaster than the one I was anticipating struck. The big girl was accompanying her friend down the road home, and fell on her bike, and was wheeled home in tears by her friend's mom. She had scrapes all over her arms, shoulder, chest, and chin. Her bike helmet did its job and was a bit mangled, but better that than her head. The toddler decided she was going to help me clean wounds and put bandaids on instead of sitting down to dinner, and was fighting all efforts by her father to put her in her highchair. She ended up sitting behind the dinner table, squatting, and eating her dinner with a bowl and spoon on the floor. Whatever. At least she ate. The big girl was too distraught to even comment on dinner, and just ate it with no complaints. I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. Not even a whine. It made me wonder if some head trauma or at least a mild concussion was involved. The toddler ate hers up quickly, and spent the rest of dinner poking at a pasta wheel and shuddering, like it was the creepiest thing ever. 

Bike-crash chicken with pasta

2 chicken breasts, sliced in strips

1 T butter or oil

1 yellow onion, chopped

About 8 mushrooms, sliced

2 bell peppers, chopped

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 c. half and half or cream

1 small tub of cream cheese

3 T fresh herbs, minced (I used basil and rosemary)

Dried chili flakes

Salt and pepper

Pasta

Brown the chicken in the butter. Transfer to a dish when cooked through. Sauté onion and mushrooms until almost soft, without browning. Add bell peppers and garlic, sauté a few more minutes. Add cream and cream cheese, heat while stirring until combined. Add herbs, chili flakes, salt and pepper to taste, and simmer for a few minutes. Meanwhile you will have been boiling water, cooking pasta, trying to set the table, and probably arguing with at least one hungry kid. 

Serves 4 if they choose to eat it, 2.5 plus lunches for the next day if they don't. (But really, both kids love the flavor, as soon as they are done examining the contents.)