Creamy Cheesy Chicken and Farfalle

This is one of Rob’s favorites, and I’ll be honest and admit it’s one of mine, too. There’s something about the creamy sauce, the fresh tomatoes, and the melted cheese. My goodness. And I have to say anything with bacon is improved exponentially. I’m pretty sure it’s been mathematically proven. A little disclaimer: I never measure anything when I cook. This is a guesstimate of the amounts I use. You can alter this to your tastes if you think that you would want more cheese, less tomatoes, or use ham instead of chicken. I promise I won’t be offended.

• Ready In: 40 mins
• Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

• 1  lb farfalle pasta
• 2 -3  roma tomatoes, diced
• 1  medium onion, diced
• 2 -3  teaspoons  chopped garlic
• 0.5 (16 ounce) bottle  fat-free Italian salad dressing
• 4 -5  slices  cooked bacon, crumbled
• 2  cups  cooked chicken (I used Tyson frozen grilled chicken strips)
• 1  cup  shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1  pint half-and-half
•  milk (as needed)
•  parsley
•  salt and pepper

Directions

1. With a little oil, sauté the onions over medium low heat in a deep skillet. My preference when cooking onions is to let them get a lot of color.
2. Next, add the bacon, garlic, and Italian dressing. The dressing makes a nice base for the sauce, but I like to let it simmer for a few minutes like this so the majority of the vinegar taste cooks off.
3. Add the half and half, you can use fat-free if you would like. It’s important at this step to be sure that your skillet isn’t too hot, as you don’t want the dairy to curdle or separate.
4. Now it’s time to add your cooked chicken, mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, and parsley. I added my chicken while it was still mostly frozen, and it still turned out lovely.
5. Now is the time when you need to decide your preference in sauce. Do you like it a little thicker? Throw in some more cheese. Is it way too gloppy and thick? Add in a splash or two of milk until you get the consistency you like. Once you’re happy, cover your sauce and keep over medium-low heat while you prepare your farfalle. Stir occasionally.
6. When pasta is done and drained, toss it all together and enjoy.