Chicken Cordon Bleu Pasta

Chicken Cordon Bleu Pasta

recipe taken from Chef in Training

Talk about a DELICIOUS pasta dish. We absolutely loved this recipe. Will definitely be added to our dinner rotation! 

Ingredients:

• 10-12 oz. penne or ziti pasta *I used rigatoni, leftover from our Italian Pasta Beef Bake night.
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 (8 oz) block cream cheese
• 1/2 tsp. onion powder more or less to taste
• 1/2 tsp. garlic salt more or less to taste
• 1 1/2 cup shredded swiss cheese separated
• 2 chicken breasts cooked and cut into strips *Somehow I forgot about cooking chicken, so used some frozen grilled strips I had in the freezer - we ended up just pulling the chicken out in the end - will definitely cook my own chicken next time! 
• 3/4 cup bacon cooked and chopped *I used already cooked bacon (also from refrigerated section at the store) - a real time saver! 
• 3/4 cup diced ham *Who knew that you could buy alread cooked and diced ham in the refrigerated section?! Brilliant! 
• bread crumbs *I used Italian seasoned bread crumbs, yum!

Directions:

1. Cook pasta according to its package's directions. Drain. I always add a little olive oil after I drain it and stir in around so the pasta noodles don't stick together or the pot.
2. Heat cream cheese on stove over medium low heat until melted. Stir in heavy cream. Stir until completely combined. Add onion powder and garlic salt until it tastes how you would like it to. Stir 1 cup of cheese until smooth consistency.
3. In a 9x13, layer noodles, chicken, bacon and ham. Pour sauce over top. Sprinkle top with 1/2 cup cheese and bread crumbs.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes or until heated through.

Pumpkin French Toast Bake

Pumpkin French Toast Bake

    recipe taken from: Six Sisters Stuff

Ingredients:

1/2 loaf of French bread cut into 1 inch bread cubes (or about 4 cups crusty bread cut into bite-size pieces) *I used an entire small loaf of french bread, and would have like to have had more, there seemed to be far more gooey than bread! 
8 large eggs *I only had 7, tasted just fine.
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp brown sugar
3/4 c pumpkin puree
3-4 tbsp brown sugar for topping
nuts like pecan or walnuts (optional) *I didn't have nuts on hand (unless you count chocolate covered almonds), but I think the crunch would really complement these.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (unless you're preparing it the night before).
2. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray and place bread cubes in dish (dish should be almost full)
3. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla, syrup, 1 tbsp brown sugar, and pumpkin until well combined. 
4. Pour over bread mixture and mix well (large spoon or hands!)
5. Cover with plastic wrap or lid if you're going to refrigerate it overnight, or just pop it in the oven!
6. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until golden brown and no longer wet. *I baked mine for 50 minutes and it was still wet in the middle, we ate around the edges (yum!), but next time I'll add more bread or bake longer.
7. Serve with warm syrup! Yum!