Family friendly fare (and cookbook # 50!)

Pizza Chicken Bake
Favorite Brand Name 365 Pasta Recipes Copyright 1997

3 ½ cups uncooked bow tie pasta
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 jar (26 ounces) herb-flavored spaghetti sauce
1 teaspoon pizza seasoning blend
3 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (about ¾ pound) cut into quarters I used tenders
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese I used a mozzarella and provolone blend

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 2-quart round casserole with nonstick cooking spray. (I'm a rebel - I used a rectangular dish!) Cook pasta according to package directions until al dente. Drain and place in prepared dish.

Meanwhile, heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add mushrooms; cook and stir 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in spaghetti sauce and pizza seasoning. Pour half the spaghetti sauce mixture into casserole; stir until pasta is well coated. Arrange chicken on top of pasta. Pour remaining spaghetti sauce mixture evenly over chicken.

Bake, covered, 50 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in centers. Remove from oven; sprinkle with cheese. Cover and let stand 5 minutes before serving.

To save time I actually cooked the mushrooms longer and then I fully cooked the chicken on the stove top. I put it all together and melted the cheese in the oven.

I chose this recipe because I thought it was something my son would like and he liked it quite a bit. I also needed something fast so I tweaked the recipe a bit. I really don't see the advantage of cooking it as the recipe suggested. The point of boneless chicken is that you can make a quick meal of it. I think the pasta would dry out after 50 minutes in a 350 degree oven but if anyone tries following the recipe as it was written, let me know how it turns out.

This cookbook is another one from the Favorite Brand Name collection that I love for family-friendly meals. These books are just loaded with recipes. This was also the 50th cookbook that I've cooked from since starting this blog. I've made over 100 recipes from 50 cookbooks and my Ugly Binder since September. Whew! That's a lot of cooking!

That probably puts me about halfway through my collection, maybe a third of the way, although the collection is still growing. I realize that really isn't a lot of cookbooks compared to many collections but considering I was rarely using any of my cookbooks before starting this blog, that's a lot of them to just have lying around the house.