Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Barilla and Galbani. However all opinions are my own
Christmas is coming. It’s my favorite time of year with the lights and carols and trees and baking and family time and everything that goes with it. My family spends a lot of time together around the holidays. We bake and do crafts and decorate our houses and wrap presents and watch Christmas specials and go sightseeing (you know, the lights).
When you spend all that time together you need to spend some time eating. But we like to mix it up a little. You can’t spend the whole holiday season eating turkey and ham and pie without getting a little tired of it by the time Christmas rolls around. You also can’t spend all your time and money eating out. So, I have created a new recipe that we are going to add to our family meal repertoire that is easy to make and after our first taste test, everyone loved. The nice thing about this meal is that it is inexpensive and easy to make. A quick trip over to Walmart to pick up a few ingredients and we were off to cooking.
So, I present to you our Cheesy Pepper Chicken Pasta Casserole (I know, that’s a super fancy name. I’m creative like that). It was super easy to make and quick to prep. As you’ll see by the small hands in our video, my 8-year-old daughter made this, with some help from me for some of the more delicate sharp knife work.
Ingredients
- 1 Roast Chicken (I did not roast my own chicken, I bought one)
- 1 Red Bell Pepper
- 1 Green Bell Pepper
- 1 Box of Barilla Penne Pasta
- 1 Jar of Barilla Marinara Sauce
- 15oz container of Galbani Ricotta
- 1lb package of Galbani Mozzarella Fresca
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
- Pour a box of Penne Pasta into a pot of boiling, salted water
- Slice the red and green pepper.
- Slice the mozzarella
- Cut up one breast from the roast chicken
- Spread the ricotta cheese on the bottom of an 8x8 baking dish
- On top of the ricotta layer the peppers and chicken
- Drain your pasta and spread it over the chicken/pepper layer
- Cover the pasta with the jar of sauce
- Layer the mozzarella slices on top of the sauce
- Bake in the oven for 50 minutes
That’s it. It took about 10 minutes to cut everything up while the pasta cooked, then we popped it in the oven and got back to our Christmas fun. The great thing about this recipe is that you can mix it up. Try shredded mozzarella on top or add some mozzarella in the middle somewhere. Really like pasta? Add a layer of Penne at the bottom and then put the ricotta on top of that. Vegetarian? Remove the chicken and add in some more veggies. The possibilities are endless and it’s so easy to make.
And when you have to run out to pick up any of the ingredients, be sure to take advantage of the Ibotta offer where you earn $2 when you purchase Barilla Pasta/Sauce and Galbani Cheese.
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