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Friday, March 9, 2012

Rigatoni with Arrabbiata Sauce, Chicken and Peppers

TGIF...yes, today is finally Friday!!!  This evening, hubby has a work function to attend so I decided to take advantage of that and spend some one on one time with my youngest son, which seems to be a rarity these days!  He and I debated whether or not we should eat out and where or whether I should cook.  I decided to cook him a nice dinner.  Isn't it funny how eating out used to be "a special treat" and not the norm and nowadays eating a home cooked meal at home seems to be the special treat instead for many people and eating out has became the norm?  Anyway, I had several packs of Perdue boneless chicken breasts in my fridge, some Barilla rigatoni, a jar of Rao's Arrabbiata sauce and 3 different kinds of peppers (Poblano peppers, red bell peppers and orange bell peppers) and knew that I could pull a delicious meal together in about 30 minutes flat.  Since youngest son ("my baby") doesn't like onions no matter how well I try to hide and disguise them...I did not add them.  I really wanted to, but didn't.

I put a pot of water on to boil the rigatoni; diced the boneless chicken; diced the 3 different colored peppers and then sauteed the peppers first and then the diced chicken in a little bit of olive oil.  Once the chicken and peppers were done, I dumped the jar of sauce in and simmered it all while the rigatoni boiled.  It literally took me 30 minutes from start to finish.  I sprinkled the pasta with shredded Parmesan cheese and some fresh Italian parsley.  It was delicious.  The sweet peppers balanced the spiciness of the Arrabbiata sauce.  Below are a few pics of the meal.  I really enjoyed not having to be added to a wait list on a Friday night and between you and me, I don't think we would have had as good of a meal eating out either!  Enjoy and Happy Friday!

Barilla Rigatoni and Rao's Arrabbiata sauce...
The trio of peppers
Diced and sauteed, ready to hop into the sauce with the chicken
The peppers and chicken finally get to mingle
Voila, dinner is served!
One more peek
BOOM!
For a quick dessert, I baked some Ginger-Spice Cookies using pre-made cookie dough from a little company called the Immaculate Baking Co.  They make some of the best ready to bake cookies I have found.  I think they taste the closest to home made and are great when you don't have a lot of time -- they took only 11 minutes to bake and the house smells wonderful.  I've included a picture of them below.  The package makes 2 dozen soft and chewy cookies.


If you've never tried their cookies, you should!
Fresh out of the oven...they smell awesome (and taste even better)!

BOOM!

2 comments:

  1. That sauce sure looks tasty! Wish I had a cabinet full of it- oh yeah,I do! HaHaHaHa

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow, what a "lucky dog" you are to have a cabinet full of that sauce! ;-)

    ReplyDelete

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