One Pot Pasta: Creamy Tomato and Chicken

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After reading my TimeHop about a delicious dinner I put together this time last year I was inspired to get cooking tonight. I made a one pot pasta with diced chicken in a creamy tomato sauce with stuff I had on hand. I didn't really measure or keep track of time, so my numbers are approximate, as usual. Start here and let the inspiration come to you, add or subtract things based on your tastes and what you have in your pantry.

I like to cut corners where I can, so some of the things in my pot tonight are convenience items: Frozen diced chicken from GFS, jarred minced garlic, jarred pizza sauce and Better Than Boullion Reduced Sodium Chicken Base boullion paste. The boullion paste is a new find for me. I found it on the shelf next to the boullion cubes and broth, and it is a pretty cool product. The jar makes 38 servings of 8 oz of chicken stock by mixing one teaspoon with 8 oz of boiling water. That means you can keep the makings of 2 gallons and 3 pints worth of stock in less space than one can! You do have to refrigerate it after you open it, but that's better than keeping one of those tetrapack cartons in there. All that notwithstanding, if you have homemade and want to use it, go for it, it will probably be so much better.

Another bonus, for my Jewish readers, using the right versions of the ingredients, this delicious beauty is kosher (as long as you skip the Parmesan cheese I cheese I used to top mine).

Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 2-3 cups cooked, diced chicken
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil (I used the left over oil from a jar of sun dried tomatoes for extra flavor)
• 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 package Live G Free fusilli (Aldi GF brand)
• 3 teaspoons boullion paste (or 3 cubes/3 envelopes, etc.)
• 3 cups water + 2 Tablespoons*
• 1/4 cup pizza sauce or thick tomato sauce
• 1 Tablespoon corn starch

Process:

1. Heat the oil, garlic, and chicken in a large frying pan or skillet with a lid
2. Once chicken is lightly browned, add pasta, boullion paste, 3 cups of water and pizza sauce
3. Stir all ingredients, cover and simmer for 5-8 minutes
4. Remove lid and stir
5. Continue simmering for another 5 minutes or until the liquid reduced to a sauce
6. Combine 2 Tablespoons of water with cornstarch and add to the pot, stir to combine
7. Remove from heat and let sit for a few minutes to allow sauce to thicken
8. Eat. All. The. Deliciousness!

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*Make sure the water you use to mix with the corn starch is cool or cold. Warm or hot water will not combine well with  the corn starch, which is why you can't just add the corn starch to the pot. 

Layers of love

I've been wanting some warm, layered, melty, delicious lasagna. On a recent trip to Sunrise Health Food Store, I picked up some DeBole's gluten free lasagna noodles, and collected my other ingredients on various grocery trips around town. When I make gluten free lasagna, I prefer to make miniature ones, individually sized just for me. If I make a full pan, then I have to cut and package it for the freezer in an extra step.

In the past I've used mini loaf pans for this job, but since I was stopping at GFS, I meandered through their foil pan section and found some really cute little ones which work out better. They have the fold down edge so you can add a cardboard lid, which makes for easier storage. Unfortunately, they didn't have an lids in the right size, but I bought the next size up then used the pans as a template to cut them down. The pans and the lids were 19¢ each, so I was inclined to make it work. The recipe I've shared below is merely a template, change and adapt it to meet your own tastes. Don't like eggplant and mushrooms? Use the ground meat of your choice. Prefer spinach to broccoli? Go for it. The best part of making any meal is making it your own.

Ingredients:

• a few teaspoons of olive oil
  
• ½ of a large eggplant, chopped into small pieces (¼ inch or so)
  
• 2 c broccoli florets, chopped
• 10 or so average to large mushrooms, chopped
• 2 cans (28 o.z.) crushed tomatoes
• 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes
• 2 c shredded mozzarella + 1c to sprinkle on top
  
• 2 c ricotta cheese
• ¼ c grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 large eggs
  
• 2 boxes DeBole's gluten free lasagna noodles (or equal amount)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F
   
2. In a large pan, sauté the vegetables in olive oil until soft
3. Add tomatoes and simmer about 10 minutes to reduce some of the liquid
4. In the mean time, combine the cheeses and eggs in a bowl until well mixed
5. Spoon some of the liquid portion of the tomato/vegetable mixture into the bottoms of your pans (or one large pan) so the noodles with not be in direct contact with the bottom
6. Line the pan(s) with UNCOOKED noodles, breaking and fitting them in as needed
7. On the noodles, spread a layer of the cheese mixture, then some tomato mixture
8. Add a second layer of noodles and repeat, topping with a final layer of noodles
9. Cover the noodles with some tomato mixture, sprinkle with shredded mozzarella
10. Cover the pan(s) with foil and bake in preheated oven for 30-40 minutes (1 hour for a full pan).

My yield was 10 mini pans, yours will depend on the pan you use and how thick you make your layers. If you make a full pan, make sure you leave enough cheese for the second layer and enough tomato mixture to cover the top. If you do not put some of the tomato mixture (or other sauce if you choose) on the bottom of the pan and covering the top, the noodles will not cook properly. The bottom ones will burn a bit to the pan and the top ones will not soften where they are not covered. If you don't want to use the canned tomatoes, you can substitute a couple jars of pasta sauce and cut the simmering to five minutes.

Happy eating, Friends!