Roasted Chicken Pasta Bake

Love making comfort foods,  not only are they delicious , but they are usually very simple and cheap .... not that I overly like the word cheap ... preferring frugal , but it seems to fit !   I even named a recipe series after it .. Good Food , Cheap !  Hahaha This one certainly fits the bill with a total cost of under $10 ... and 6 to 8 servings :))   $1.25 a plate sound good for a balanced meal ?

Ingredients : 

One Pound of Pasta ( Rotini ) 

One Pound of Roasted Chicken ( leftovers )

One Jar of Stewed Tomatoes ( homemade )  

One head of Broccoli  (small florets )
One Red Pepper ( sliced )
A Handful of Cremini Mushrooms (sliced )
A Couple of Onions  (sliced )
A Couple cloves of garlic ( minced ) 

A 1/4lb of Mozzarella ( shredded )
A 1/8lb of Aged Cheddar ( shredded )
A 1/16lb of buffalo parmesan ( fine shred ) 

 

Prepare the pasta as per the packages instructions ... cutting short the cook time by a minute or two helps with the finished dish I find :)  Assemble all your ingredients ,  and start building dinner ... pasta in first ( I use my lasagna dish )  then add the chicken, onion , mushrooms & stewed tomatoes ...   season at this point , S&P , Italian Herbs ... diced garlic :) mix it up well, and pop into a 350F oven for about 20 minutes .

After twenty minutes ..  and the cheeses and broccoli , and back into the oven for another 15 to 20 minutes .  

Ta....  Da !!!   Dinner is served :)  Just let the pan rest for a couple of minutes , before digging in ...  

Portion it out , add some garlic bread or a caesar salad if you like and enjoy !  

There you have it ...  My Three cheese Pasta bake ...   you can easily substitute any .. or all of the ingredients and make it your own dish :)   I hope you enjoy !  

Peace, Love and Good Food
Rich

Spicy Meatball Pasta Bake - Good Food Cheap

Lets try this again !  I typed this post up a week ago , only to have the whole thing disappear on me just as I was finished up . For someone that has a hard time writing , that was a major bummer....  so I took a week , and figured I would try it again . This time Ill be typing it up on Word , and will copy and paste to blogger.   I just love this series , Good Food Cheap !  What could be better ? Besides free! Hahaha that and its a one pan dinner... which is great as there is not as much clean up .   So ... here we go , first recipe post in 7 weeks for me ... where does the time go ??

You will need :

Meatballs :

3 Cloves of Garlic
2 Small Red Onions
1/2 a Large Red Bell Pepper
2 dried chili's
1lb of  ground beef
1 egg and ...
a touch too much bread crumbs ( kinda knocked the jar over .. ooops :)
To Taste : 
My chili powder
Basil
Smoked paprika
Sea salt
Black pepper,
L&P

Note : Normally I would have added mushrooms too .

Pasta Bake :

1 Pint Jar of Tomatoes, juice and all
1lb of cheese tortellini
2/3 cup of beef stock
1 1/2 cups chopped broccoli
90Gm of Mozzarella

Total Cost :    Just under $10 for dinner for four!

  Start by chopping the veggies for the meatballs :)

Add the veggies to the  beef and the spices , Mix well with your hands , and let rest for at least 30 minutes for flavour developing time :)

Roll them into balls, I decided to go with small ones this time . This made about 36 little ones.

I pan fried them in a spoonful of sunflower oil , for about 5 minutes each ( in two batches ) just long enough to get some colour on the outside of them. Preheat your oven right about now to 350F

Meatballs are browned up and, ready for the oven

 Now its oven time, the tomatoes were added juice and all , the pound of cheese tortellini and the beef stock . set the timer for 15 minutes at 350F 

 At the 15 minute mark , give it all a good stir , and set it for 15 more. Add the chopped broccoli & mozzarella at the 30 minutes in mark , and leave it for 10 more minutes.

 Total oven time 40 minutes :)) Mmm smells good!!

 My finished plate :)) Spicy Red Pepper/Onion Meatballs, with garlic tomatoes, cheese tortellini , broccoli and mozzarella . 

Well there you have one of my favourite one pot cooking meals !  Simple, easy and cheap!  Hahaha what could be better ??   Besides having someone make it for you ?  

This is the first Good Food Cheap post where I didnt break all the costs down ?  Does this work for you ? Or would you prefer a more itemized price list like i have done in the past ?

I hope you have enjoyed my Spicy Meatball Pasta Bake :)) Happy Cooking

Less Words, More Food 14

Wow ,  Can't tell that I like this format of posting .. this is number 14 in this series ! LOL  It is a handy way to to catch up on LOADS of of food pix I have to share with you . Please if you see something you like, just ask , and Ill write it up as a recipe for you .  On the flip side if there is something you don't like , please let me know so I can fix it or avoid it in the future.  This shots go back to April... that's how far behind I am now ... lol , well after this post Ill be caught up to May .  Enjoy :))

My version of Bangers and Mash :))) Loaded of course !  

A great Meatball Pasta bake , and soon to be a blog post ( its next ! ) 

Mmmm just gotta love roasting Beef!!  

The roasted  goodies for a nice hummus!!

Roasted Red Pepper, Onion & Garlic Hummus :)) 

Put it together for cold roast beef , and chips :)) With hummus and a fresh tomato. A Simple and Easy way to get Creative with your leftovers!!  

My new favourite way to make eggs.,, with the onions and garlic in the same pan !  Mmmm gotta love Free range eggs ! 

Another favourite of mine, Bacon ,Egg and Chips!! Mmm

Yeah!! April is done!! Hahahahaha I hope you all have enjoyed this post . As always , all feedback is welcomed.  Have a great day  :))
Happy Eating
Rich