Smokey Chicken Pasta - Part 2 with pictures

Hi Crushers,

Sorry for the delay in sharing this recipe, but I had a really busy weekend! My lovely cousin got married to her sweet husband on Friday and I was the Matron of Honor. We had lots of wonderful family time including snuggling and hiking with my adorable nephew/godson, and sharing delicious meals including one of my husbands' favorites: BBQ Ham Balls. It sounds ridiculous, but is one of the best make-ahead meals ever! I hope to share that recipe with you in the future!

Ok, enough about ham... it's chicken time!

As I said, I was running out of time between work and babysitting to go out and buy ingredients to make the REAL Wildtree Chicken and Vegetables in Tomato Cream Sauce. Therefore, I modified the recipe. Let me tell you, while I did enjoy it and my husband gobbled it up, I felt like there was something missing. A little kick? Let me know if you try it and either love it just as it is or if you can tell me, "Duh, you forgot xyz ingredient!"

Ingredients:

• 16 ounces spaghetti, cooked according to the package
• 1-1.5 pound chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
• 3 tablespoons Wildtree Grapeseed Oil or olive oil, divided 
• 1 tsp Wildtree Garlic Galore seasoning blend or garlic salt
• 1.5 cups sliced mushrooms
• 2 green peppers, diced
• 1 medium onion, sliced

Sauce:

• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 tablespoons Wildtree Smoked Mozzarella and Tomato Blend
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups milk (I used 1%)
• 1/3 cup jar pasta sauce (we had it leftover, but you could totally use tomato paste)

Directions:
I'm going to assume that you all know how to boil water to cook pasta. If I'm wrong, please tell me in the comments!
Heat one tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet and cook chicken pieces until they aren't pink in the middle. Salmonella is bad. Sprinkle with garlic seasoning and turn the chicken so they are evenly cooked.

Generally, the chicken should be cooked when all the oil is gone.
The juice from the chicken will cook off as well.

 While that is in the pan, dice all your veggies if you haven't already done so. I find that it's just enough time. If you like your veggies crunchy, leave them until your sauce is done and then add them. Otherwise, put them to the pan with the chicken right away to saute.

In case you were wondering, that's a Pampered Chef (R) garlic press sitting all nice with the veggies.

 In another pan, or if you want, you can just set the chicken aside on a plate and use the same skillet (which is what I did), to saute your garlic over a medium heat. Then add the flour and seasoning blend until they make a nice paste. Then SLOWLY add the milk while stirring. You don't want to scald the milk. Otherwise it gets clumpy and gross. Once all the milk is in, add the tomato sauce or paste. Mix until it starts to thicken.

My husband was helping so I could take a picture while he stirred so the milk didn't burn.

Once you've got the sauce thickened up, add the chicken and veggies back into the skillet and bring everything back up to the same temperature in case your chicken and veggies started to cool.

This smelled so good, I almost ate it right out of the pan.

 You can either incorporate the chicken and vegetable mixture right in with the pasta or you could serve it on top.

Dinner is served!

I think what I was missing was garlic bread or some red pepper flakes or a glass of wine or all three... Let me know what you think and enjoy your meal!

NOTE: Anytime I mention a specific brand of seasoning or if you see a kitchen utensil with a logo on it, please understand that I'm not being paid by any of these companies to endorse their products. I just happen to like them. If you're a fan of something else and think I should try it, please let me know in the comments section. We are willing to try out lots of new products and foods!