Recipe of the Moment: Chicken Enchilada Pasta

Okay. Remember when I made the red enchilada sauce and the green enchilada sauce? 

This is it. This is what you've been waiting for. Because I am not kidding when I tell you that this is the most amazing pasta I've ever created. And I've made a lot of pasta.

This post was garnering some attention on Pinterest as one of the best recipes to try. I tend to take recommendations over there lightly since many people tend to eat a lot of processed foods, but I pinned it and made a mental note to try it out.

And I am not sorry I did! You won't be sorry either, unless, for some reason, you hate food and/or flavors exploding in your mouth.

EDIT: I've made this many times, and I have a few notes. The first is that if you want to be healthier and use quinoa instead of pasta, it tastes just as delicious.

The second thing is that, obviously, when you make your sauces (links below) it tastes ridiculously better. I was feeling lazy last week, and I bought sauce at the store. Words cannot express to you how disappointed I was. Though obviously, if you're crunched for time, store sauce it must be! And it's still pretty good. :-)

Ingredients

3-5 chicken breasts, filleted and chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 medium onion, diced

1 red pepper, diced

1-2 green jalapeno peppers, diced

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp cumin

10 oz green enchilada sauce

2/3 cup red enchilada sauce

2 cups shredded cheese (I used cheddar and Monterrey jack)

1 cup yogurt (or sour cream)

penne pasta

olive oil

1 avocado

green onions

Preparation

Fillet, chop, and cook chicken. Drain.

Boil water and cook pasta. Drain.

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook onion for 3-5 minutes, or until lightly brown.

Add garlic and red pepper and cook for 3-5 minutes.

Add cooked chicken, green peppers, cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and enchilada sauces. Let sauce simmer for 10 minutes.

Add cheese and mix until cheese is melted.

Add yogurt and stir, but make sure heat is low enough that it will not boil.

Pour the sauce over pasta and mix well. 

Garnish with avocado and green onions. Enjoy!

Recipe of the Moment: Avocado Cream Sauce and Bacon (And Pasta)

When I was younger, my favorite kind of pasta was fettucine alfredo. Is it good for you? No. Healthy in any way? Of course not.  Of course, this was before I kicked all processed foods out of my life and started eating healthy. Since then I went from eating canned tomato sauce to making my own sauces. 

But then a glorious thing happened. I found this blog post that made something similar to a cream sauce, but it used avocados. Avocados! Perfect. This still has some cream in it, but for a dish to eat every once in a while, it's perfect. I'll even go so far as to say it's my new comfort food. Let me know what you think!

Ingredients

Pasta noodles, cooked

2 avocados

5 tablespoons of light cream

1 teaspoon of salt

2-3 tablespoons of lime juice

1/2 teaspoon of black pepper

1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper

3 pieces of bacon

1 small onion

3 cloves of garlic

Handful of Monterrey Jack cheese

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and lay the strips of bacon on a baking sheet. Cook for 20 minutes.

While the bacon is cooking, begin to cook the pasta noodles.

Heat olive oil over medium heat in a sauce pan.

Chop the onion and garlic and add to the pan. Saute until golden brown.

Put the avocados, light, salt, lime juice, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and cream in a blender. Once cooked, add the onion and garlic and ONE strip of bacon. Blend well. If you desire thinner sauce, add more cream.

Looks gross, but it's amazingly delicious.

Once the pasta is done cooking, drain and return to pan. Add the avocado mixture and cook on low heat for a few minutes. (The heat makes the avocado extra creamy!)

When ready, crumble the additional 2 pieces of bacon and cheese over each bowl. Enjoy!

Yummmmm