Chicken Alfredo - Quick and Easy!

Copycat!  Who's a copycat?  Me!  And proud to be!  

I have fell in love with Ree Drummond,The Pioneer Woman.  She Rocks!  Ree doesn't know me and no, I don't know her on a personal level, but I'd love to meet her.  Ree Relaxes & inspires me.  Something about Ree is just Calming to me and slow paced compared to my world.

A couple days ago, oh' at about 5:00, I realized I hadn't thought of supper all day.  The thought never even tried to enter my mind.  Completely forgetting about supper has become an issue for me.  First, I am a planner - at least I like to think I am.  Secondly, there's nothing worse than waiting until the last minute to whip up a awesome supper but have to use the microwave to thaw out my meat.  Have ever seen what chicken looks like if you defrost it in the microwave too long?  It's Rubbery.  I don't like it if even just a little bit of the outside starts to cook because it turns white and that part always seems tough to me.

So I thought of The Pioneer Woman and her recipes that I've seen on Food Network. She always makes it look so easy and doable.  I went to her Cooking Page and wallah - 16 Minute Meals!!  What!?   That sounds exactly like the suppers I want to make.  I scrolled down one recipe, two recipes and OMG I think I can do this! Bowtie Chicken Alfredo. The other reason, other than it's supposed to be fast, is I picked this one is because I had all of the ingredients in my pantry, fridge and freezer.  Plus it looked super easy!

Here's  Ree's recipe.  

Ingredients

§  12 ounces, weight Bowtie Pasta (farfalle)

§  4 Tablespoons Butter

§  2 whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts

§   Salt And Pepper, to taste

§  2 cloves Garlic, Minced

§  3/4 cups Dry White Wine (may Substitute Low-sodium Chicken Broth)

§  1/2 cup Half-and-half

§  3 Tablespoons Heavy Cream

§   Low Sodium Chicken Broth, As Needed For Thinning

§  3/4 cups Parmesan Shavings Or Grated Parmesan

§  2 Tablespoons Fresh Parsley, Minced

Then, I'll show you what I came up with on the fly.  Here is what I used!

Ingredients

§3 handfuls of medium pasta Shells

§  2 cups of Ziti pasta, again - I used what I had on hand!

§  Tyson Grilled Chicken, frozen in the bag - eyeball it!

§  2 Tablespoons Butter 

§  Salt And Pepper, to taste - just like Ree!

§  1 Tbsp minced Garlic, from a Jar - already minced!

§  1 jar of HEB Brand Alfredo Sauce - again, it was what I already had on hand!

§  1/2 cup of grated Parmesan

§  1 Tablespoons dried Parsley, in the spice cabinet
§  Pinch of Love

§  More Salt (optional)

§  Half bag, Frozen Broccoli

Boil a pot of water, then add Pasta Shells.  I added the Ziti after 3 minutes since Shells take longer than Ziti.  Add Butter to a skillet, then add Garlic.  I probably should have added the garlic after the chicken but I didn't.  Then I added the Chicken, yes it was still Frozen.  I cooked that until the Chicken was thawed - I think I covered it with a lid for a few minutes.  Add Alfredo Sauce, I let it come to a simmer.  I added Salt & Pepper - just like Ree!  More salt, then added Salt to the Boiling Pasta Water too.  When the pasta was about 3 minutes from perfection, I added the Broccoli - yes, it was Frozen too.  The Frozen Broccoli reduced my boil, so I just turned the heat up and brought the water back up to a boil.  When cooking time is over I scooped out the pasta and broccoli, draining as much water as I could.  I put this right into the skillet with the Chicken and Alfredo Sauce.  Stir up this yummy mess. Add Parmesan, Parsley and a pinch of Love.  Stir some more and maybe add another Pinch of Salt.  Yuuuh-Uuh-Me!

What makes it even better?  HEB Garlic Bread! (OMG- cheap and good!).  Hubby likes Broccoli a bunch.  So I served his with another side of Broccoli.

Then, I took out my fancy little camera - that I never use and decided to try to take a pic of my dish! YUMMY! 

Chicken Alfredo

One more tip - ALWAYS cook double!  Ladies (and gents!) I said, ALWAYS cook double!  If I could share anything it would be to ALWAYS cook double so we have enough for leftovers for the next night!   SMART?  Yep, I'd say!

Please leave a comment and any suggestions!  Much Love, Jess!

Why you SHOULD use old pallets

Why? Why Not? 

Reclaimed Pallets can be used for so many things these days.  It is exciting to see the creativity that people are showing on Pinterest, blogs, the web, facebook, etc. (Well - at least it's exciting to me! LOL!) It's like people are determined to find something - anything to make out of old pallets!  Stuff like home decor, shelves, wine racks, book cases, cabinets, furniture, signs, playhouses, stairs, chairs - the list goes on and on! (too many ideas! - Just ask my husband!)

History?  Pallets have history?

So, how long have pallets been used? About 100 years!  Since the 1920's.  The majority of pallets we have used were basically brand new.  New wood!-like they were nnly used once and that's it!  I once heard someone say not to use old pallets because you don't know what type of contaminates might be on them.  I even had someone tell me that there might be radiation on them so I shouldn't use them.  Really???  Well - Guess what?  I did it anyway and I seem to be okay...  Well....some people may think otherwise!  haha!

For Real? 

I think you have to use your own judgement.  Using pallet wood (Old pallets, used pallets, recycled pallets, reclaimed pallets - All the same thing!) is basically recycling wood. Where else do you get recycled wood?  Old fences?  Maybe, but I don't know anyone that has a habit of putting up and taking down old fences.  Maybe I'm just too lazy to search for old fences.  

Pallets are so easy to find!  

We found a business that gets a ton of pallets. They can't keep them and they don't reuse them.  So - they get rid of them after their products are unloaded.  Well, guess what?  Can you beleive, the employees were actually cutting them up with a chainsaw and putting them in their huge dumpster?  (Are they nuts!?)  So we take our 16 foot trailer, back it up to their loading dock and load up our trailer with pallets.  When their employees were there, they helped me load them! Yaee!  That makes it a Win-Win-Win-Win!  Win! -They are still getting rid of them, Win! - They don't have to cut them up with a chainsaw anymore, Win! -I get pallets, and Win - we're all recycling!  Ta-Da!  Magic! I guess you would probably call it being "Green"!  Recycle People! - Recycle! Reuse! Repurpose!

What? Pallets can be exhilarating?

Yep! The most pallets I ever got to fit on our trailer at one time was about 65.  ...and let me tell you, those 65 - I loaded them BY MYSELF!  yes!  yes, by myself!!! I know I'm nuts! Oh boy, I sure needed a nap when I got done.  It was basically a workout!  I was so sore the next day.  Needless to say, I learned not to pick up a load of pallets by myself anymore!  Although It was exhilarating knowing that I'm a "big girl" and perfectly capable of doing anything-myself! Did you know that loading pallets is an Art?  The trick is to stand them up (not lay them down), on their short side so the long side is standing up. You can fit so many more than you could if you just laid them down!

Thanks for sticking with me!  For some of you this might be a boring story, but Pallets are some Serious Stuff!!

Leave a comment! What projects have you made? XOXO - Jess

Share with my fb fam!

I'm going to share my new blog with my facebook family!  Here we go!  

I had asked some of my favorite girlfriends to help me out with naming this blog and I was very honored to know that you all love me so much!  LOL!  I just couldn't get past using this one! - So it is!