Creamy White Chicken and Artichoke Rigatoni bake

This recipe uses a bit of a lighter alredo creamy sauce using cream cheese and milk. I came across the original lasagna recipe from Tasty Tidbits blog and since me and lasagna are still not friends since my pork lasagna roll up trial, I decided to make a casserole dish with this using rigatoni. I made this the night before so it made for a quick dinner to pop in the oven after work last night. Pretty simple and great for leftovers to snack on for next few days...

Ingredients

2 cups shredded cooked chicken breasts

1 can (8 oz.) artichoke hearts, drained, chopped

1 pkg. (8 oz.) KRAFT Shredded Mozzarella Cheese, divided

1/2 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese

1 can of diced tomatoes

1 pkg. (8 oz. each) Cream Cheese, softened

1 cup milk (I used 1%)

1 tablespoon. garlic powder

1/4 cup tightly packed fresh basil, chopped, divided

1 lb. Rigatoni pasta

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350°F.
2. Combine chicken, artichokes, 1 cup mozzarella, Parmesan and tomatoes.
3. Beat cream cheese, milk and garlic powder with mixer until well blended; stir in 2 Tbsp. basil. Mix half with the chicken mixture.
4. Meanwhile, boil pot of water, cook the pasta, drain, and set aside.
5. Spread half cream cheese mixture onto bottom of 13x9-inch baking dish
6. Mix remaining cream cheese mixture with chicken mixture and pasta,cover with mozzarella; and cover with foil.
7. Bake25 min. or until heated through. Sprinkle with remaining basil. Let stand 5 min. before cutting to serve.

My first Penne a la Vodka

After researching and googling penne vodka recipes after one another and talking to my friends about how to make a yummy vodka sauce, I jumbled everything together and made my own and came out really good. I actually stood at my stove, and said "Wow, I did pretty good!"  hehe..see below for how I made mine. I think next time I'm going to add crab meat to this concoction!

Ingredients:

(3) tablespoons of EVOO

(1) Small onion diced

1 (28oz) can of crushed tomatoes

(3) cloves garlic

pinch of red pepper flakes (pends on your spice level)

1 pint heavy cream

1 cup vodka

Penne pasta

Salt and pepper

Grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1.         Take a medium sauce pan (this sauce makes a lot, so medium size or bigger) and heat oil on medium heat, add onions and sauté for 5-6 minutes until see through, then add garlic for 1-2 minutes
2.          Add can of crushed tomatoes, add red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to your tasting, and simmer for 15 minutes
3.          Stir in Vodka and cook 15 minutes more
4.          Bring large pot of salted water to a boil and add pasta and cook for 8-10 minutes or until al dente; drain; put back in pot
5.          Stir cream into sauce and cook 10 minutes more
6.          Pour sauce over pasta to well coat and then serve and top with grated parmesan cheese

I also made a few chicken cutlets just to add for Ant, but that's an entirely different day for posting!