Chicken Pasta Tomato Casserole

Had cooked up some chicken breasts in the crockpot on Thursday, in some diced tomatoes. Tossed in a few dried herbs and left it.

So, I shredded up the leftover chicken tonight in the remainder tomato "sauce".
I boiled up some elbows.
I chopped up an onion and sauteed that in a small can of fire roasted tomatoes.
Added some tomato paste and garlic powder.
Cooked that up for a while...
Mixed the shredded chicken in with the "new" tomato & onion mixture.
Chopped up an 8oz block of sharp cheddar.

Then, I tossed the chicken mixture and the cheese with the elbows.
Covered it with a layer of shredded mozzarella.
Cooked it in the oven for 30 minutes at 350F degrees, covered in aluminum foil.
Uncovered it and then cooked another 10 minutes.

Added a salad and some garlic break and it was awesome!

Scalloped Mac & Cheese

Made a killer mac-n-cheese last night. I think this is because I was making a baked scallop casserole, and I only belated realized that it was mac-n-cheese with scallops. Perhaps this is the key. This is the first good mac-n-cheese that I have made in a very long time. So many batches ruined.

- 1 container bleu brie & peppercorn cheese spread from Highland Park
- milk to mix with the cheese spread to thin it out
- 1 block of extra sharp cheddar
- 1 box of pipette-shaped pasta (half shell, half elbow)
- 1 stack of Keebler crackers, crushed
- bits of butter
- 1/2 lb of bay scallops

I put the pasta on to boil and preheated the oven to 350F.
Then I put the cheese spread in a bowl, poured milk over it and whisked it until it was foamy and the cheese was relatively broken up.
Then I chopped up the cheese block into cubes.
Then I put the crackers into a ziploc bag and crushed them.
I took out a 9" x 13" casserole pan and sprayed it with olive oil.
Drained the pasta, put it into the pan.
Poured in the cheese liquid.
Put in the cheese blocks.
Turned and stirred and coated the pasta.
Drained and rinsed the scallops.
Put those into the pasta and turned and folded it.
Poured the crackers on top.
Dabbed with bits o' butter.
Put aluminum foil over the top & cooked for 20 minutes.
Took the foil off and cooked for 10 more minutes, broiled the last few to get crunchy bits on top.