Super Quick Dinner

photo courtesy of food.com

For most of us working moms, our Monday-Fridays are busy.  Add in an over-achieving teenage daughter and a busy husband  and you have a recipe for hectic evenings.  Something I do during the weekends is "menu plan". This not only helps me stay within a certain budget for grocery shopping, but it also keeps me sane during the late afternoon as then I don't have to wonder "what's for dinner?".  I also can see what foods we are eating too much of or too little of and adjust the menu.

Today was an  exceptionally gorgeous day...especially the late afternoon and for once, my teen didn't have a ballet class to run off to. I took my time at the market choosing some fresh  fruits and veggies.

Then I came home. The plan was to grill some chicken but I realized we still had a lot of roasted chicken left from one I had picked up from the deli on Saturday.  The following recipe is one I came up with to use up the roasted chicken.  It turned out great!!

CHICKEN AND BOWS

2 c. roasted chicken, chopped

1 pkg of bow tie pasta (12 oz)

1 small bag of frozen mixed peppers, thawed

(I used a 9 oz bag of green and red peppers)

1 1/2 c. frozen peas, thawed

1/2 c. chopped sweet onion

1 tsp garlic powder

3/4 c. parmesan cheese

1 can of low-fat cream of chicken soup

3/4 c. fat-free milk (skim)

(or you can use 2 %)

• Cook pasta according to package directions; drain and set aside.
• Meanwhile, put about 2 Tbl of margarine in a large skillet and add the peppers, onion, and peas.  Cook on medium high heat until margarine is melted. Stir.
• Add in the chopped chicken, soup and milk.
• Add the parmesan cheese and  garlic powder.  Stir and heat on low for about 5-7 minutes.
• Add in the pasta and mix thoroughly.
• Serve immediately.

Dinner Tips: this dish works great for leftover roasted or grilled chicken.

Add a fresh fruit salad (I did watermelon chunks and blackberries), plus garlic rolls.

ENJOY!

as with all the recipes found under the faithfixes label on this blog, you do have permission to copy this recipe!