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I am a photography fanatic. I love taking pictures, tweaking pictures, and finding the beauty in every day items

Friday, May 9, 2008

Creamy Spinach Rigatoni

Hello hello one and all.... I am back in business. But I do have a confession.... I maybe, perhaps... kind of, well I might have.... got our computer back sooner than expected and I MIGHT have taken a blogging break because I was not expecting such a speedy return (thank you Geek Squad). And not just sooner, but also cheaper... which we were plenty happy with So here I am, back on the blogging saddle again. But since I have been out of the blogging world for a while it has made me also out of blogging practice... so I am going to do a recipe today. DON'T GET ME WRONG!.... this isn't some hinkie dinkie recipe, but a mouth watering, tongue tantalizing, creamy creation! Just to give you a hint as to how good it is here is how much my husband loved it.
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My husband has a true passion for running and is actually running in a marathon here in a few weeks. He was supposed to go running after dinner that night, so he was just going to eat a light meal and then go train. He sat down and took a couple bites, then started scarfing it... soon he asked for more. He had soon finished that and was getting ready to ask for more; this is when I turned to him and asked, "Honey, what about running? This is going to kill you. I know you are suppose to carbo load before a big run, but not literally BEFORE the run." He looked at me and just says, "You think I'm going running after this, phffff... yea right.". Now I am really confused with this and asked, "So... you are stuck with choosing to either go running or to be able to eat seconds and thirds at dinner?" And Curtis blurts in, " AND I AM CHOOSING DINNER!". Probably the best compliment that he has ever given any of my cooking :)
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Creamy Chicken & Spinach Rigatoni
2 TBS flour
2 1/4 Cups low fat milk (1%)
3/4 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 TBS olive oil
2 Cloves minced garlic
2 or 3 chicken breasts cut into 1 inch chunks
5 to 10 ounce bag of chopped spinach (make sure to thaw and keep water out of the dish)
1/2 cup of Cheddar cheese
3 TBS Parmesan cheese
10 ounces rigatoni pasta

Yes, I know that this is one of my longer recipes that I have posted, but still amazing and easy.
Trust me if I have posted it AND made it... then yea.... it isn't too hard.


1. Start boiling the water and rigatoni pasta

2. In a large sauce pan, start heating up milk over medium heat, then whisk in flour. Add in chili powder, salt, and pepper. Stirring constantly, then move off heat.

3. In a large skillet pour olive oil, minced garlic, and diced up chicken in pan over medium heat. Once chicken is cooked lightly, add spinach.

4. Put large sauce pan over low heat again and mix/melt in cheddar and Parmesan cheese. Then mix in chicken and spinach into milk sauce.

5. Drain noodles and mix sauce with noodles.

Curtis and I like food with a little more spice, so we did add more pepper and chili pepper (but mainly just pepper). The recipe originally asked for 10 ounces, but we put in 5 because it looked like a lot and we were worried about the spinach was TAKING OVER... but with the 5 ounces it was fine and could have even used some more.
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P.S. Since I couldn't find my camera I had to use a internet picture that almost looks like what the dish should. Just so you all know, it will come out creamier and not looking like an oil based sauce. Hope this helps.

21 comments:

  1. Nice to have you back! Hope you enjoyed your break.
    That looks delicious!

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  2. Glad you are back thank for the yummy recipe

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  3. That's sounds wonderful. I'll have to try it. My family will not eat spinach (I love it though) so I may have to substitute broccoli. It sounds like a great summer meal.

    Also, I hope you'll stop by my blog (Thursday's post) I have something for you.

    I don't blame you for taking advantage of the break. Sometimes we need one!

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  4. That does indeed sound incredible. My mouth is watering and I'm ready to have that for breakfast!

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  5. Glad you are back! Happy Mother's day. This recipe looks delicious, and economical. I always love that!

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  6. That looks and sounds deliciously yummy.

    Welcome back! We've miss you.

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  7. It looks good and I'm getting hungry!

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  8. Welcome back! Mouth watering and got to it. Happy Mother's Day.

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  9. Delicious sounding. I will HAVE to try it.

    Happy Mother's Day.

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  10. You're back up and running! Great!

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  11. This looks so yummy! I'll be trying it this next week!

    Happy to have you back, and to hear the computer is all better!

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  12. This looks delicious. Makes me want to run a marathon just to feel justified in eating the carbs.
    Happy Mother's Day!

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  13. ♡ That is a great compliment! :) It looks fabulous and I'm printing it off as I type! Thanks!

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  14. Mmmm, this looks yummy and simple enough to make fast. Thanks for sharing.

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  15. I don't think spinach has ever looked sooo yummy. Thanks!

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  16. You deserved the break!!! Gosh, this looks fabulous!

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  17. This looks great. My husband loves spinach, and I think I could handle it in a dish like this!

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  18. I am so glad I kept reading this post. I almost stopped (I have taken a long blogging break, too and not read much) becuase I thought it was going to be like 1 cup of cheese and 2 cups of heavy cream and a stick of butter. This sounds AWESOME and so healthy. I am going to try it. I love white sauce/creamy pastas. These are all ingredients I always have on hand, too.

    KEEP BELIEVING

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  19. I made it. So easy and so yummy. No baking. quick. great. I do, however, think it needs more garlic and more parmesan (instead of the cheddar) as we thought it was a bit bland. I love that it was relatively healthy, too for a white sauce.

    KEEP BELIEVING

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  20. hiiii.... I made this last night and we loved it. I agree with Angie... it needs a little more spice and maybe a sharper cheese but overall it was sooo much easier/quicker than most dinners I make. THANK YOU! :-)

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