Dinner Recipe: Spicy Chicken and Butternut Squash Penne

Image via:  Epic Food Po

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Total Time: 1 hr. 48 min.
Prep Time: 8 min
Cook Time: 1hr. 40 min

Ingredients

½ lb. of Chicken Breast
Olive Oil (For Drizzling)
Kosher Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1 Onion, diced into ½- inch pieces
1 lb. of Penne Pasta
Vegetable Oil Cooking Spray
1 (2lb.) Butternut Squash, peeled and seeded; cut into ¾ -inch cubes
1 cup of 8-ounces Goat Cheese, crumbled
1 packaged cup of chopped fresh Basil Leaves
1 cup of coarsely chopped Walnuts, toasted
1/3 cup of finely grated Parmesan
Cajun Seasoning bottle

Image via:  Ezra Pound Cake

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F, and take one of the racks in the oven and place it in the middle slot of the rack.
2. The take the chicken breast and season it with the Cajun chicken seasoning and some salt and pepper to taste. Then spray a cooking pan with some of the cooking spray and let the chicken breast cook in it, until both sides of the chicken turn golden. Once the chicken has been cooked thoroughly then, set it aside.
3. Next for your dinner recipe, get a baking sheet and lightly spray it with the cooking spray, then lay it aside.
4. Thirdly, start mixing and arranging the butternut squash and onions together on the oiled baking sheet. After you’ve made a single layer of the squash and onions on the baking sheet, drizzle the layer down with the Olive Oil and season them with the salt and pepper to taste.
5. Place the baking sheet in your oven and let it bake for 40-45 minutes or until the vegetable get a golden look and are cooked through. Once the vegetables have met the criteria, then take them out of the oven and set them aside again for cooling.
6. While the previous mixture is cooling; get a large pot fill it with salted water and bring it to a boil over a high heat. Begin adding in the pasta and let them cook until they become tender yet still firm when bitten. Stir the pot occasionally and the pot should cook for about 8-10 min.
7. Now take the chicken and a fork and shred down the chicken; until all of the chicken has been shredded for the meal.
8. Drain the pasta from the pot but keep about 2 cups of the pasta water. In a large bowl, put the goat cheese, pasta, shredded spiced chicken and the 1 cup of the pasta water in it. Toss it around until the goat cheese has completely melted and forms a creamy sauce. Time for adding the squash and onion mixture into the mix; then you can add in the walnuts along with the basil. Toss the entire mixture with salt and pepper to taste.
9. Top off the entire mixture with Parmesan cheese then serve.

Image via:  The Wicked Noodle

Typically, we have answers to the never ending question, “So what’s for dinner tonight?”  But there are those days when you are just caught up in life that you literally do not know what you are going to cook or eat.  Not to worry look to Stagetecture to be your comforter and Guru for your homing needs.  The recipe is simple to make and leaving your family happy and content.  So for tonight’s dinner recipe try the one above and let us know how it goes.

Stagetecture readers, what are some of your favorite pasta meals? We have some great pasta recipe suggestions to try!

Fall Dinner: Slow Cooker Butternut Squash Soup

Image via: Martha Stewart

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Fall Dinner: Slow Cooker Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients

2 lb butternut squash

2 tbsp butter

1 onion

2 cups chicken stock

8 oz cream cheese

half teaspoon dried basil leaves

black pepper, grounded, to taste

red cayenne pepper, grounded, to taste

salt, to taste

Image via: BHG

Directions

Peel and cube the butternut squash and set aside. Chop the onion into small pieces and set aside.

Melt the butter in a skillet and add the chopped onion. Let it cook until its tender, stirring from time to time.

Place all the ingredients except for the cream cheese together with the cooked onion in a 3 – to 4- quart slow cooker. Mix the ingredients together. Cover and cook the soup for 6 – 8 hr on low heat.

Blend the ingredients in a blender or a food processor, but make sure to not overfill it. It is better to blend a small amount of ingredients at a time. Blend the ingredients until they become smooth. Pour the soup again into the slow cooker and stir in the cream cheese. Cover and cook the soup for about 30 minutes until the cheese is melted. To keep the smooth consistency, stir the soup with a whisk.

This Fall Dinner Recipe is great for colder weather and you can alter many things to give it a different twist. To make it vegetarian, replace the chicken stock with vegetable stock. Also, try adding a little nutmeg and just a hint of cinnamon to the soup. Another great idea is to add some cubed carrots or apples, increasing, if necessary, the amount of water or stock. To give it the finishing touch, add to each plate before serving a tablespoon of Greek yoghurt or sour cream, roasted bacon, croutons or toasted pumpkin seeds.

For more soup recipes on Stagetecture, click here.