Bow-ties with Chicken and White Sauce

 

(This was Sam's plate. I ate about half of that.) 

Thanks to everyone who has sent me links to websites with healthy recipes. I'm excited to try out some new recipes on my family. Tonight I was stumped as to what to make for dinner. I feel like I've been in a dinner rut, where I keep making the same few things week after week. Also, I need to go shopping. Like, bad! I hate dragging 4 kids to the store on my own, so I decided to raid my own cupboards and create something with the items I had on hand. This can sometimes be dicey because my children are children, which means they are picky eaters. I rarely make a meal that all 4 of them enjoy. Luckily for me, things panned out this time! All my kids ate this stuff up, and every single one of them wanted seconds. Success! I decided I need to document how I made it so that I can recreate it some time again. At it comes in at approximately 400 calories for a 1 cup serving, which isn't too shabby. 

Bow-ties with Chicken and White Sauce

Ingredients:

8 oz. of pasta. I chose bow-ties (obviously) because I had half a box sitting in my cupboard. 

water - to boil the pasta in

2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves - cubed (you could add in a 3rd one, but mine were Costco sized)

Seasonings of your choice for the chicken. I used garlic powder, onion powder, pepper and Itialian seasoning

2 T butter

2 T flour

1 tsp minced garlic (I used the jarred stuff, but I'm sure fresh would be heavenly)

1 2/3 cup milk

2 T fresh basil, chopped

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp chicken bouillon (optional)

Boil your pasta in the water until it's al-dente. Meanwhile, place your cubed chicken breast in a skillet and season it however you like. I used some garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper and Italian seasoning on it. Just eyeball it, you know what you like! Cook that chicken over medium high heat in the skillet until it is cooked through. 

While the chicken and noodles are cooking, let's make the sauce. This dinner is multitasking at it's finest! In a medium sauce pan, melt the 2 T of butter. Add in the garlic and stir it around a bit and enjoy the fragrance. Mmmm! Then add in the 2 T of flour. Whisk it all around so it doesn't burn, and cook it until it begins to brown just a bit. Then s-l-o-w-l-y add in  a cup of milk. I used skim and it didn't detract from the taste at all. Bring the sauce up to a boil, and add in the mined basil, black pepper and salt. If you think the sauce is too thick, feel free to add more milk to it a little at a time. I ended up adding another 2/3 cup of milk to get my the consistency I wanted. Taste test the sauce. If you think it's lacking something, add in 1/2 tsp of chicken bouillon. That's totally optional.

By now your noodles and chicken (that you've both been stirring intermittently) are now done. Drain your noodles, throw the chicken in the pot, add the sauce and voila! Dinner of yumminess is served. 

This dish would pair nicely with a green salad, but I told you I need to go shopping, so our was served with leftover peas. I ended up mixing my peas in with my helping of pasta and it was delish. Or, if you are my kid, you can just throw the peas on the floor. 'Cuz that's how we roll around here. The peas, I mean. Anyway, the meal was tasty and very satisfying. Bon appetit!