Work night dinner

Well last night we were lucky to get a good quick dinner in!!

South of the Border Chicken & Pasta Skillet was complements of Kraft Foods. I used to get the Kraft Foods Magazine at my house quarterly. I realized I wasn't really making a lot of the dishes, so I didn't brother keeping up the subscription. However I did keep the magazines, I keep them with my cookbooks. (I will also look up recipes on the Kraft website)  No photo to share...we were all starving before I could snap one! Darren was over for dinner too. It came together pretty quickly once we got it to the table the boys added tabasco sauce and taco sauce. Darren thought it would be a good idea to crumble up some tortilla chips-- indeed he was correct. Gotta love a quick meal that comes together fast and it is yummy! 

What you need
2 cups medium-shaped pasta, uncooked
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 jar (16 oz.)  Salsa
1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen corn
4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) Cream Cheese, cubed
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
1 cup  Mexican Style Finely Shredded Four Cheese, divided

Make it

COOK pasta as directed on package. MEANWHILE, cook and stir chicken in large nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray on medium-high heat 6 min. or until done. Add next 4 ingredients; mix well. Simmer on medium-low heat 6 min. or until cream cheese is melted, stirring occasionally. DRAIN pasta; add to chicken mixture in skillet with 1/2 cup shredded cheese. Simmer 3 min. or until cheese is melted, stirring occasionally. Top with remaining shredded cheese; cover. Remove from heat. Let stand until cheese is melted

On another food note... I made this really good crock pot meal the other day!! I pinned it on Pinterest Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken!! I also made three bags of brown rice to serve with it. I didn't exactly know the pounds of chicken you should use... so I used 3 1/2lbs. It made a lot and I had a lot of sauce leftover. Next time I won't put as much oil in. I also had to use more cornstarch and transfer the sauce into a saucepan. I left the crock pot and it turned to warm so it wasn't hot enough. We ate this meal as our lunches and dinner the last couple of days. 

I really like pre cooking things to have them available to be reheated for our lunches. Meals pre-made by me may not always be as good the next couple of days but they are better than the frozen meals that are full of fake food really what is that chicken made of? and lots of sodium. 

Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken

Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (thighs would be fine too)
Salt and pepper
1 cup honey
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup diced onion
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (could also use olive oil or canola oil)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional - doesn't really add heat, just adds more flavor)
4 teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in 6 Tablespoons water
Sesame seeds

Directions: 
Season both sides of chicken with lightly with salt and pepper, put into crock pot. In a small bowl, combine honey, soy sauce, onion, ketchup, oil, garlic and pepper flakes. Pour over chicken. Cook on low for 3-4 hours or on high 1 1/2 – 2 1/2 hours, or just until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken from crock pot, leave sauce. Dissolve 4 teaspoons of cornstarch in 6 tablespoons of water and pour into crock pot. Stir to combine with sauce. Replace lid and cook sauce on high for ten more minutes or until slightly thickened. Cut chicken into bite size pieces, then return to pot and toss with sauce before serving. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve over rice or noodles.

*You can also sprinkle more red pepper flakes on top if you want more heat.