Cheesy Chicken Pesto Ravioli

Wow, it's been a whole month since I last posted! Time flies! How have you been? How are the kids?

Ok, so I've actually had this recipe ready to post for a while and just never got around to it. I made it up myself. I got the idea from my co-worker. She told me how to make "Lazy Man's Lasagna" with frozen cheese ravioli (just layer it and add meat and sauce). I misunderstood, and thought you still had to boil the ravioli before baking it, which doesn't seem so "lazy" to me, but I was mistaken. Apparently you don't have to boil the ravioli before hand, so that might work in this recipe, too, but it's not how I did it. What can I say? I like to be difficult. In fact, if you don't need to boil it first, this would probably make an excellent freezer meal.

Oh, and I waited so long to post this, that I lost my list of ingredients and measurements, so you'll have to bear with me.

Here's what you'll need (I think):
2 chicken breasts - cooked and shredded
1 - 25 oz bag of frozen cheese ravioli
1 packet of pesto mix
1- 15 oz jar of alfredo sauce
1 - 15 oz container of ricotta cheese
Lots of mozzarella cheese to put on top

Here we go!

This is the kind of ravioli I used.

You want to boil it first. (Unless you decided to skip this step. It might work, it might not.)

And while you're boiling the ravioli, you might as well prepare the pesto mix according to the package. Here's the kind I use.

Here's what it will look like when it's ready. It looks gross, but tastes oh so yummy! You're going to use the whole thing, just to make sure we get all that delicious pesto taste. (P.S. Like my new saucepan?)

When the pesto is ready, mix it with the ricotta cheese. Seriously, I'm drooling.

Next, you'll want to break out the alfredo sauce. This is the kind I always use. It's delicious.

Spread a thin layer of alfredo sauce on the bottom of the lasagna dish.

Then arrange a layer of ravioli.

Spread a layer of the pesto/ricotta mixture on top of the ravioli.

Sprinkle some of the chicken (which, for the purpose of this blog, has already been prepared. I think we all know how to cook and shred chicken by now) on top of that.

Then pour on some of that alfredo sauce.

You're going to repeat these steps one more time, and then top it all off with lots of mozzarella cheese. I think I used a whole pack (2 cups), but I can't exactly remember.

I often forget to take pictures after I take my concoctions out of the oven, and this is no exception. So if you really want to know what the final product looks like, you'll just have to make it yourself. Trust me, you won't regret it! I thought it was going to be really rich due to all the cheese and sauce and such, but it was actually not overwhelmingly rich. It was very, very good. This is most definitely NOT a diet food, though. I doubt that needed to be said, but I thought I'd give that little disclaimer anyway. If you're looking for some good old fashioned, carb loaded, comfort food, this is it.

It even gets the 1-year-old kid seal of approval!

Chicken Pesto Pasta

Here's another freezer recipe that I stumbled upon. I'm a really excited to try this one because it looks amazing! I found it here, but I did some tweaking based on the blog comments. First of all, instead of stuffing shells, I decided to make it into more of a casserole so that the tops of the shells don't try out with no sauce on them. I chose to use bow tie pasta, but you could use any kind you want. Second, some of the comments said the recipe was a bit dry, so I used more cream cheese and added a little mozzerella. I do love me some cheese. Third, I used less garlic because I plan to freeze this, and garlic tends to increase in intensity over time, so I didn't want to over-do it.

So here's what you'll need:

- 2 cups chicken (shredded)
- 8-10 ounces of bow tie noodles (or whatever type of pasta you want to use)
- 6 oz cream cheese
- 1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese + 1/4 cup for topping
- 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese
- 4 tbsps prepared pesto
- 1 clove minced garlic
- salt and pepper to taste

First, you want to prepare some pesto.

This is what I used. Just follow the instructions on the package. You'll need some oil and water if you go this route. You might be able to buy pesto already prepared, but we always have this stuff on hand because J really likes it.

This is what it looks like when it's prepared. I know it looks gross, but it's good. Really. I promise.

While you're making the pesto, you might as well start boiling the noodles.

Put the shredded chicken in a big ol' mixing bowl.

Add the 4 tablespoons of pesto. (Here's where the lighting in my photos got a little wonky. I was playing with the settings and kept changing my mind. Deal with it.)

Now go get your cream cheese. It should be softened. Mine wasn't, so I nuked it for a little bit.

And mince a little garlic.

Then add the cream cheese, garlic, Parmesan cheese, and mozzarella cheese to the mixing bowl with the chicken.

Add the pasta and mix it all up. Now I understand why this is supposed to be a stuffing and not a casserole. It's thick. Duh. There are no liquids in it. So stirring may be a little difficult. Just keep at it though, and get the "filling" as evenly distributed as possible.

It looks a little dry, but once you pop it in the oven and all the cheesy goodness melts, it will be nice and saucy. I promise hope.

Then add some Parmesan cheese on the top. Just because. I love cheese.

I covered mine with tin foil for good measure, even though it came with a lid. I like to be thorough.

With all the cheese in this dish, you'll probably want to thaw it before baking. Then cook it at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

This smelled so good while I was putting it together. J can't wait to try it, and I agree with him!

Chicken Spaghetti

A few days ago, I stumbled upon this great blog. It's called The Pioneer Woman. I was amazed! This woman is the wife of a rancher. She works on the farm, has four kids (whom she homeschools), makes these elaborate meals, does some photography, gardens, and has time to blog about it all. Talk about Super Woman! And she's a very good writer. She's funny and keeps the reader interested. I was absolutely enthralled.

Anyway, I found this recipe for Chicken Spaghetti and thought it looked really good! So I decided to make it for supper tonight. Well, I was going to make it last night, but my parents decided to come visit and brought Subway. Who am I to turn down a free meal that I don't have to cook? So we just pushed the chicken spaghetti back one night. This recipe would also be great for OAMC (once a month cooking, aka freezer cooking or make-ahead meals). I plan to do some freezer cooking one of these weekends, so I'll have to keep this one on the list.

Since I knew I was going to make it today, I cooked and shredded the chicken last night. Now, the Pioneer Woman (her name is Ree) cuts up a whole chicken, boils it, then uses the homemade broth. I, however, am not as Super Woman-ish (that's totally a word) as her, so I just fried up a few chicken breasts and then shredded them using an extremely high-tech device called... a fork. Then I put it in a Rubbermaid container and stored it in the fridge until I was ready for it.

I broke up the noodles like the recipe says, and ended up with a little over two cups.

I filled my pot up with water and added about a cup and a half of canned chicken broth in which to boil the noodles. Then I ignored the pot while I was slicing up the green pepper and onions, until it's hissing demanded my attention because it was rapidly boiling over. Oops.

I only used about half of the onion because we don't care for a really strong onion flavor here in the Richter household. Next time I'll only use half of the green pepper too.

Then I drained the noodles and dumped them into a mixing bowl.

And I added the chicken that I cooked last night.

Ree says that she sometimes likes to use cream of chicken and mushroom soup instead of regular old cream of mushroom. Well, I didn't have any of that. But I did have one can of cream of chicken and one can of cream of mushroom. So I improvised.

Then I added the diced green peppers, onions, and pimentos.

As I added the spices (Lawry's seasoning salt, black pepper, and red pepper) and cheese, I realized that I was going to have no room to stir it.

So I transferred it to a larger bowl. I'm very good at making lots of dirty dishes. Ask James.

I dumped it into a casserole dish (again, I should have used a bigger one, but oh well) and loaded the top with cheese. Mmmm.

I cooked it on 350 degrees for 45 minutes and here's the final product.

The cheese got a little crusty on top instead of melty. I don't really know why. It might have been the brand (Archer Farms - the Target brand). It wasn't too big of a deal though.

This dish was very tasty! James liked it too! I'll make it again, even though it's a little more labor intensive than the stuff I usually make (I'm an amature). I'll definitely be putting this on the OAMC list. Next time I'll cut down on the green pepper, use a little more onion, and I'll actually measure the spices (I think it may have been a little heavy on the red pepper). Also, I'll split it into two casseroles because it makes a lot. We'll have three days worth of meals from this.

All in all, it's a very good recipe! A+! I recommend you try it!
Bon appetit!