Make-ahead Unstuffed Pasta Shells

I absolutely love getting my seasonal addition of Kraft's Food & Family and their winter addition has some really great recipes. This recipe was one that I really liked how delicious it sounds and it did not disappoint us. The entire family loved it and it was a blast to put together. I prepared this dish and served it immediately, but it is designed to be made ahead of time and simply reheated later. So if you need something for the cooking challenged on a night you will not be present this is the dish for you.

I did try to make this dish a little healthier with the use of low fat cheeses, whole wheat pasta shells, and lean ground turkey instead of ground beef with great results. I highly suggest  you give these products a try if you haven't all ready, they are actually quite good.

Prep 30 min. Total 1 hour 15 min. Makes 6 servings
Ingredients
4 cups medium pasta shells, uncooked
1 lb. extra-lean ground beef
1 jar (24oz) marinara sauce
1 tub Philadelphia Original Cooking Creme
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup Kraft Grated Parmesan Cheese
1 1/2 cups Kraft Shredded Mozzarella Cheese with a Touch of Philadelphia

Directions
Cook pasta as directed on package, omitting salt. Mean while, brown meat in large skillet; drain. Stir in marinara sauce; simmer on medium heat 2 min., stirring frequiently. Remove from heat.
Drain pasta. Mix cooking creme, basil and Parmesan in large bowl; stir in pasta. Spread half the meat sauce onto bottom of 13x9-inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray; cover with pasta mixture and remaining meat sauce. Sprinkle with mozzarella; cover with foil. Refrigerate up to 24 hours.
Heat oven to 375ºF. Bake casserole, covered, 40 to 45 min. or until heated through, uncovering after 30 min.

Chicken and Summer Squash Skillet

   A few weeks ago I took my Wife and Daughter to a small farmers market that's close to our home. While there my daughter picked up a nice big round summer squash, it was very nice looking. So when it came time to make our biweekly menu, I made sure to choose a recipe that included the specially selected squash. I found this recipe from Kraft that fit the bill perfectly, I mean it was a perfect match, so it should of been at them point that I should of figured out something would go wrong. When it came time to for dinner, I began slicing the squash and it was incredibly tough. It was like it was preparing to become a gourd and just needed to be hung up to dry. I tried cooking a few pieces to see if they would soften up, but no such luck. But despite the lack of squash the recipe was great and earned a Tot approved. My picky little girl loved this dish, so I'm sure I will be repeating it next year when summer squash and zucchini is in season.

Ingredients
1 tbsp butter
4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1 tub (10 oz.)Philadelphia Italian Cheese
2 zucchini, cut lengthwise in half, then sliced
2 yellow squash, cut lengthwise in half, then sliced
2 cups cooked orzo pasta
2 tbsp. thinly sliced fresh basil

Directions
Melt butter in large skillet on medium heat. Add chicken; cook 4 to 5 min. on each side or until done (165ºF). Transfer to plate; cover to keep warm
Place 1/4 cup cooking creme in small microwaveable bowl; set aside. Add vegetables to skillet; cook 5 min. or until crisp-tender, stirring frequently. Stir in remaining cooking creme; cook and stir 2 min. Add orzo; cook and stir 2 min. or until heated through.

Spoon orzo mixture onto 4 plates; top with chicken. Microwave reserved cooking creme on HIGH 15 to 20 sec. or until heated through. Spoon over chicken, top with basil.

Tri-pepper Pasta Salad

This recipe was delicious, but it's best suited as a side dish as it's not very filling. I served it up with some lunch meat in an attempt to make it a little more filling, but stay on the light side, and it didn't do very well at that. Also it wasn't well received by my little girl, so no Tot approval for this one. But the next time you need a pasta salad for a picnic this is your dish, it would be great for a potluck.

I ussually cook a whole box of pasta when I'm trying to feed our family of 3, so I found that making more of the mayo mixture may be neccessary. It's realy easy as a simple 50:50 mixture of mayo and balsamic vinaigrette is all that's needed to make this mixture.

Recipe from Kraft Food & Family spring magazine

Whisk 1/3 cup each Kraft Mayo with Olive Oil Reduced Fat maynnaise and Kraft light balsamic vinaigrette Dressing in a large bowl.

combine mayo mixture with 2 1/2 cups cooked whole wheat medium shell pasta, 1 each chopped red, green and yellow pepper, 1 chopped small red onion, 1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil and 1/2 cup Kraft Shredded parmesan Cheese.

Chicken With Linguine, Leeks, and Tomatoes

Here's another delicious chicken recipe that will have you coming back for more. The best part it, it's Tot approved! That's right, my little girl loved this recipe as did my wife and I.

4 skinned, boned, chicken breast halves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons stick margarine or butter
3 cups sliced leeks (about 3 medium)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 (14.5 oz) can fat-free, less sodium chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 (14.5 ounce) can no salt added whole tomatoes, un-drained and chopped
4 ounces linguine, uncooked and broken into 2-inch pieces

Directions
1. Place each chicken breast half between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; flatten to 1/4 inch thickness using a meat mallet or rolling pin. Combine 1/4 teaspoon salt and next ingredient; sprinkle over both sides of chicken.
2. Melt margarine in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken, and cook 1 1/2 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Remove chicken from pan.
3. Add leeks and garlic to pan; cook over medium-high heat 5 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently. Add chicken, chicken broth, and remaining ingredients; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook 20 minutes. Uncover, and increase heat to medium-high. Simmer, uncovered, 5 minutes or until liquid evaporates and pasta is done. Yeild:4 servings (serving size: 1 chicken breast half and 2.3 cup pasta mixture) 326 calories, 4g fat

Pizza Pasta Salad

The past week and a half has been super busy at home and work, which has limited me from working on posting some really tasty recipes. I also have been putting some thought into doing a special post for an upcoming movie release, so be on the look out for that as well. But in the mean time here is a wonderful recipe form Kraft that can pull double duty as either a hot main dish or a cold side dish depending on your needs. I substituted smoked turkey sausage for the hard Salami and it came out wonderful. This dish is full of flavor and does actually have a pizza flair.

Ingredients:
3 cups penne pasta, cooked, drained and cooled
4 tomato's (1 1/2 lb.), chopped
12 slices Oscar Mayer Hard Salami, chopped
1 cup Kraft Natural Italian Cheese Crumbles
1/2 cup sliced fresh basil
1/2 cup Kraft Grated Parmesan Cheese
1/2 cup Kraft Roasted red Pepper
Italian with Parmesan Dressing

Directions
combine ingredients
Refrigerate 1 hour.
Serving Suggestion: This dish is also great served hot. Just toss the hot cooked pasta with the remaining ingredients. Serve Immediately.

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