Creamy Chicken & Pasta

Debber's Note:

Prepare this ahead of time, then when your guests arrive, pop the pan in the oven and spend time with your guests! Also works great with almost any kind of pasta: layered like lasagna, stuffed in manicotti or big seashells, mixed willy-nilly with linguine or elbow macaroni. So many choices! Double the recipe, make two pans, freeze one and cook the other right away.

• Total Time: 45 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 4-6

Yield: 1.0 13x9 pan

• 1 (8 ounce) package pasta
• 16 ounces cream cheese , softened
• 2⁄3; cup milk
• 2 teaspoons minced onions (dried or fresh)
• 2 teaspoons chives (fresh or dried)
• ¼ cup parmesan cheese , grated
• 2 cups chicken meat , cooked & cubed
• 2 cups frozen broccoli , chopped, drained (thawed)
• 1 (4 ounce) jar pimientos , diced, drained
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• ¼ teaspoon paprika

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350; grease a 13x9 pan; cook pasta according to package directions; drain; set aside.
2. On stove or in microwave, heat cream cheese briefly to soften; stir until smooth; add onions, chives and Parmesan cheese; stir to blend well.
3. Reserve 1 cup of cream cheese mixture; set aside.
4. Combine remaining cream cheese mixture with chicken, broccoli, pimiento, and pepper. Mix with pasta of choice (ie., layer lasagna, stuff manicotti or shells, etc.) and arrange in 13x9.
5. Spoon reserved cream cheese mixture over the top; sprinkle with paprika.
6. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 25-30 minutes (heated through).

Reviews

[Chef #820885]

This was great! I used a low fat cream cheese and skim milk and it was still very flavorful. Also, since I didn't have pimientos on hand, I used fire roasted red peppers. I'll make this again and again. Thank you!

[*Parsley*]

Creamy goodness! I used fresh chopped broccoli instead of frozen and added some extra onions. My cream cheese was reduced fat and it was still wonderful. I'm quite confident that this recipe would work very well with tuna or leftover cubed ham in place of chicken. Very verstile! I'll make thsi again..... so many possibilities. Thanx!