Instant Pot Garlic Parmesan Chicken and Rice

Instant Pot Garlic Parmesan Chicken and Rice

Behold the cheesy, creamy goodness.

So buried somewhere in this link is the following recipe. It is painful and time consuming to find on their side. So without further ado:

Resources:
1.5 lbs chicken breast, boneless, skinless
1 tbsp butter
2 1/2 cups water
2 cups heavy cream
10.5 oz cream of chicken condensed soup
2 cups white rice
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 cups Parmesan cheese, shredded
2 tsp parsley flakes

Method:
Cut chicken breast into strips.

Turn Instant Pot on to Sauté Normal. Add butter to the pot while it's heating up. Add the chicken breast slices to the pot and cook until almost no pink remains.

Add the water, heavy cream and cream of chicken soup to the pot and stir gently. Add the rice, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper to the pot. Do not stir.

Place the lid on the Instant Pot, lock it in place and turn the steam release handle to the sealing position. Pressure Cook on High for 5 minutes*.

Once the Instant Pot is done cooking, immediately turn the steam release handle to do a quick release. Once the float valve is all the way down remove the lid.

Add the shredded Parmesan and parsley flakes to the pot. Stir well until the cheese is all melted. Cover until rice is done.

Commentary:
I only made minor modifications. If you are curious dig through the original link... and drown in the excessive that is food blogging for profit.

* - Seriously though, the rice was under cooked. I added the cover until rice is done line. Next time, I plan on adding a minute or two of cook time.

Aside: I always wonder if I will ever get a cease and desist letter. Can you own a recipe? How much do I have to change to not get in trouble. I barely touch the recipe I post

Conclusion:
I would not like to see a calorie count, but everyone loved it.

Red Wine Sauce

So I am back on the cooking from every cookbook in alphabetical order thing. Today we have American Cooks: The General Federation of Women's Clubs Cook Book, edited by Ann Seranne, published by G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, copyright 1967, sixth impression.

I feel like this book was loved... just not so much by me.

This was one hundred and one percent a swing and a miss. 

I want to apologize to Mrs. Franklin Ussery, Jr. of Alice, Texas. I did not do your recipe justice. Revert my awful, awful wine substitution if you are curious but please for the love of the Flying Spaghetti Monster do NOT repeat what I did.

My shame incarnate.

Resources:

Original 1/3 cup butter 1/4 cup grated onion 1/3 cup presifted flour 1 1/2 cup dry red wine 1/2 cup catsup 1/2 cup beef broth 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon pepper Dash of garlic salt 1 tablespoon brown sugar 1 tablespoon prepared mustard Dash of ground cloves

So Very Wrong 3 tablespoons butter ???* dried minced onion 2 2/3 tablespoons all purpose flour 3/4 cup Chianti red wine vinegar 1/4 cup ketchup 1/4 cup beef broth 1/4 teaspoon salt Dash teaspoon pepper Dash of garlic salt 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar 1/2 tablespoon mustard

Method:
Melt butter in a saucepan. Sauté onions until golden. Sprinkle with flour. Gradually stir in wine. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened and smooth.

Stir in remaining ingredients. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Commentary:
This strictly speaking is an alphabetical cheat. In between deciding to start this up again (ie pulling out the next cookbook and pouring over it) and this post, I was gifted a collection of cookbooks. Thank you to the fine folks who make that happen by the way. So I should be cooking from 30 Minute Kosher, but America Cooks has plagued me. 

Why you ask? Well, it is a very complete cookbook with lots of reference materials, basic methods, cross references, variations, and so much more. But something about this one just did not speak to me. It is a huge book and I generally skipped the pork/beef to keep the wifey happy... and found nothing I wanted to make for dinner. 

Aside: this is a common problem. I find many older cook books to have a craptastic poultry section unless you are cooking a whole bird. 

So I went to the sauces and just made something for which I "had" the ingredients.

And let us just be honest here. The fuck up has nothing to do with Mrs. Franklin Ussery, Jr or the rest of the kind, wonderful women of The General Federation of Women's Clubs. Oh no. I own this mistake. Take a look at the chapter listing: 

1. Appetizers
2. Hearty Sandwiches
3. Quick Breads
4. Yeast Breads
5. Soups
6. Egg and Egg Dishes
7. Cheese and Cheese Dishes
8. Fish, Shellfish and Other Foods Prepared Like Fish
9. Poultry and Game Birds
10. Meat
11. Vegetables
12. Sauces for Fish, Poultry, Meat and Vegetables
13. Stuffings and Garnishes for Fish, Poultry, Meat and Vegetables
14. Dumplings and Other Starch Substitutions
15. Rice and Rice Dishes
16. Pasta Dishes and Sauces for Pasta
17. Salad and Salad Dressings
18. Pies and Pastries
19. Cakes
20. Frostings and Fillings
21. Cookies
22. Desserts
23. Dessert Sauces
24. Candy
25. Preserves
26. Beverages

There are four or five rarebit recipes. Hell, there is a frostings chapter. FROSTING!!! So this falls into the same category as Santa's Whiskers: I should probably revisit this cookbook someday. But seriously why did I make this unholy abomination you ask?

Can I interest you in a side of jellied vinegar and hatred with your nuggets?

Because I have been on a sauce kick. I eat chicken nuggets a lot. They are quick, easy, and (assuming you buy the right ones) reasonably healthy. But there is only so much barbecue or honey mustard one can eat. So I like to mix up my dipping sauces. Lately it has been brown sauce and I thought this might be my "next" thing. I was wrong. So very foolish and wrong.

This smelled delicious. It was such a promising start.

Now that I have gone on at length about nothing important, let us actually talk cooking. I substituted red wine vinegar and dried minced onions (the kind you find in the spice aisle) for red wine and grated onions. Also I did not have any ground clove, so gone. I do not think the dried minced onions was a bad substitution. * - I adjusted the quantity according to the side of the minced onions bottle. I forgot to write it down hence the unknown quantity in the recipe. Anyway they cooked quite nicely. This smelled wonderful... until I added the vinegar. 

Once I added the vinegar this stung the nose. I love vinegar but I have my limits. This tastes like vinegar with a faint hint of beef and onions. 

And the real kicker? Practically speaking, it is garbage for dipping. Way too thick. 

Pretty sure if I pulled this out of the fridge, nothing would have moved days later.

In hopes of saving some face I slathered it all over some chicken thighs, let set in the fridge for an hour or two, and baked. This was not horrible, but just kind of bland ironically. Not much came though.

How the fuck do you have an 1/8 teaspoons?!?

Also as might be obvious, I halved the original. Not because I meant to, but I only had that much ingredients. Sigh. Let us face it, I was bound and determined to get this cookbook off my list and that was all that mattered.

Conclusion:
I want to apologize to anyone who took the time to read this entire rant. 

There are too many recipes and cookbooks I want to try. I will almost certainly never revisit this and give it a fair chance. Sorry again Mrs. Franklin Ussery, Jr. of Alice Texas!

Broiled Tarragon Chicken with White Wine

2017-08-29 Edit: I made this with cooking wine and marinated overnight. Do not try this method.

So I have a completely unrealistic goal! Want to hear? Sure you do! If you are actually reading this that is and not just skipping straight to the recipe below that is. I am going to attempt to blog something from every single cookbook I own.

Step One of Fifty-Five and Counting

I estimate that given my blogging output and the age of my child, this will take my approximately ten years! It is good to have goals right? So today we start with the first cookbook on my shelf alphabetically: 365 Easy Low Calorie Recipes. Why alphabetically? Because otherwise I will cherry pick and stop this process long before I am done.

So I bought this cookbook at a Half Priced Books clearance event at the local conventions center about three years ago. I am fairly confident it has only collected dust since then! Flipping through it, it seems to be a pretty standard "diet" cookbook: low calorie meals, low calorie alternatives, low calorie variations on classics, super basic recipes. Let us take a shot at that last one.

Resources:
2 tablespoons dry white wine (I used a pinot grigio)
1 1/2 teaspoon olive oil
3/8 teaspoons tarragon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 large boneless skinless chicken breast slice thick-wise

Method:
In a medium bowl combine everything but the chicken. Mix well. Coat chicken and let marinate one hour at room temperature.

Set oven rack about six inches from broiler. Preheat broiler. 

Broil chicken (in a broiler safe tray or pan, duh) about six minutes each side or until cooked through. 

Commentary:
I almost made the low calorie Hollandaise sauce. Then I thought to myself, I cannot think of the last time I made a Hollandaise sauce. I feel like I must have at some point right? I mean it is a classic. Hell, Wikipedia says the following: Hollandaise is one of the five sauces in the French haute cuisine mother sauce repertoire. Surely I have made it at some point right? Right... So I couldn't bring myself to go there. Luckily a bottle of wine and this was otherwise stocked in the house.

Oh and in case it is not obvious by the "eighths" ingredients, I halved the original. Also it was implied that they were using bone-in breast, so I cut the cooking times appropriately.

Aside: I think I really like tarragon. 

Anyway, two tablespoons of wine is a nice excuse to buy a bottle of Pinot right? I will be trying this one again with a bottle of "cooking white wine" and without the salt. I will also try leaving it in the fridge over night. Because if it is nearly as good that way, this might get regular rotation in the house. Preheat and twelve minutes cooking? Yeah: fingers crossed. 

One for the chicken... twenty five for me!

Conclusion:
Oh my! Oh goodness! I need more of this in my life!!! YES, yes please.

Or should I say: I liked it.

Mark's Thighs

[insert product placement here]

We are living dangerously (again)! Today's recipe is a Archduke Domestic ORIGINAL. That is right folks prepare yourselves to be wowed with an entirely unoriginal original recipe that I, your humble guide, wrote!

So what inspired this risqué move? Well let us put on our memory caps folks! Remember my Pressure Cooker Sauerbraten (which I really need to make again come to think of it) post from a while back? That was fun and all, but it was not exactly something I was going to make on any regularity. On top of that, I had been looking to break out my chicken breast rut (as you might have noticed by my two chicken thigh recipes earlier this year). So that led me down a path of quick easy and minimal special ingredients.

Resources:

4 chicken thighs (bone in, skin on)

(1) 14 1/2 ounce can chicken broth

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/8 teaspoon of pepper

2 cloves garlic, peeled

2 tablespoons plain bread crumbs

1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese (fresh or Kraft)

1 teaspoon-ish season salt (see commentary)

Method:

Mix the chicken broth, lemon juice, garlic, and pepper in the pressure cooker. Add chicken thighs.

Bring to pressure and cook 15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. 

While cooking mix the bread crumbs, Parmesan, and season salt in a bowl.

Safely release pressure. Line a broiler safe pan or tray with foil. Roll each chicken thigh in the bread crumb mix. Place skin up on the pan. 

Turn on the broiler of your oven (do not preheat). Broil thighs until lightly browned (to taste).

Commentary:

This is about five minutes of active cooking and another twenty-five of passive. Other than having to remember to buy/thaw chicken thighs ahead of time, I have everything in my house. This is the penultimate weeknight recipe (nothing will ever surpass the ease and speed of chicken and cheese quesadillas). Any given Tuesday or Wednesday you can expect this to be made in the ol' Sutcliffe household.

This also comes out pretty salty if I use a full teaspoon. But I like it that way. So I would not begrudge anyone for using less.

Conclusion:

This is "not wow the boss convincing him to give you that much deserved raise" recipe... That raise you need to buy that amazing investment property that is not on the market yet. That you have an inside track on, you just need the money. If get the raise, you get the property, and you would be set. One simple raise and it is smooth sailing from then on. Why cannot he see you deserve it more than that jackass Jenkins. He is nothing but a talentless brown noser who just happened to have gone to the same alma mater as the boss. Why cannot he see it!!! WHY???

Er... excuse me. I mean this is a lovely and simple recipe for a quick and pleasant dinner, but not exactly haute cuisine.

Slow Cooker Moroccan Chicken with Apricots, Olives, and Almonds

Sometimes you have to take risks in life. Some men quit their jobs to start their own companies. Some climb the highest peaks or ride the rapidest rivers. I choose to serve dinner with ingredients the wifey and I dislike. 

Dinner is served.

Resources:

4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

1/2 onion, trimmed, cut in half

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon coriander seeds in a spice bag

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Salt and black pepper to taste

1 bay leaf

2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons low-sodium chicken broth

(1) 7 3/4 ounce can chickpeas, drained

8 large green olives (condition to be debated in commentary)

1/4 cup dried apricots (condition to be debated in commentary)

1/4 cup sliced almonds

Method:

If necessary, remove skin and bones from chicken thighs.

In a the slow cooker, toss the chicken thighs with the onion, cumin, ginger, coriander, cinnamon and cayenne and season with salt and pepper. Add the bay leaf and chicken broth, cover and cook on high for 2 hours. Stir in the chickpeas, olives and apricots, cover and cook until the chicken is tender and cooked through and the apricots are plump, about 1 hour. Remove the bay leaf and season the juices with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F. Spread the almonds in a pie plate and toast for about 7 minutes, until fragrant and lightly golden.

Spoon the chicken and juices into shallow bowls, sprinkle with the toasted almonds and serve.

Commentary:

Check your nuts! Seriously. Testicular cancer is nothing to laugh at. Also check you nuts as you toast them. I checked them. They seemed almost done. I went pee. I get back and they are burnt and smoky. Luckily I had bought a half cup bag of almond slices!

None of my regular readers will be surprised to learn this is a Food & Wine recipe. The only meaningful chance I made from the original was halving the recipe. Two adults and a toddler, although we are all big eaters, probably should not polish off three pounds of chicken thighs in one sitting.

Hmm. Well that will not do!

Speaking of halving the recipe 1/4 cup of jumbo green olives is literally four olives. I doubled that somewhat arbitrarily. 

My one regret was I did not cut the apricots and olives. The tastes did not blend because of it. You tasted all chicken. Then all olive. If I revisit I will halve the apricots and quarter the olives (remember I used large olives, so if you are using smaller olives I would half).

Conclusion:
Slice & dice and this is all good.

Middle Eastern Herb and Garlic Chicken

Well hello there! Long time no see. <insert obligatory President Trump joke> How are the kids? Oh Susie got the lead in the school play? Well that is just fantastic. Good for her. I am sure it will be the best Annie Get Your Gun the high school theater has ever done!

Aside: are high schools even allowed to do Annie Get Your Gun these days? I mean it is a classic, but guns are bad m'kay.

Anyway, now that we have caught up after my long absence, let us dive into a recipe that I had pretty mixed feelings about. (I really know how to make a come back!)

My mom says I have INNER beauty, which she says is the best type of beauty.

So today we have a bit of an odd ball. The recipe below is how I made it. But I have noted how I will make it next time (and there may or may not be a next time). And if you have far too much free time I linked the slightly different original.

I got this recipe from the New York Times at some point. Probably from their daily briefings emails. Maybe I should ask those guys if the local high school theater can do Annie...

Resources:

5 boneless skinless chicken thighs

6 garlic cloves, minced

Juice and zest of 2 lemons (or 1 if following my commentary)

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, more to taste

2 tablespoons minced dried parsley

1 1/2 teaspoons ground thyme

1 teaspoon oregano

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, more to taste

1 tablespoon sesame seeds, more to taste

2/3 cup plain Greek yogurt (delete if following my commentary)

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Method:

Combine chicken with all but 1 teaspoon of the grated garlic (save that teaspoon for the yogurt sauce), the zest and juice of 1 lemon, oil, parsley, thyme, oregano, the salt, and the sesame seeds. Cover and marinate for 30 minutes at room temperature.

Preheat the broiler. Arrange a rack 3 to 4 inches from the heat. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and spread chicken out in a single layer. Broil chicken, turning halfway through cooking, until well colored and charred in spots, 4 to 7 minutes per side. Be careful that it doesn’t burn, but is cooked through.

While chicken cooks, place yogurt in a small bowl. Stir in the reserved grated garlic and lemon zest and season to taste with salt. (Or, you know, do not. Whatever works for you.)

Serve the chicken drizzled to taste with olive oil, remaining lemon juice to taste, black pepper, and sesame seeds with the yogurt alongside for dipping.

Commentary:
In short: SKIP THE SAUCE. The yogurt sauce was terrible. It was nothing but a overpowering lemon flavor. Seriously even using the sauce extremely sparingly it was too much. The wifey scraped what little she used of it off (luckily I served it separate). I made repeated disappointing attempts to use it in smaller and smaller quantities. Just ditch it. When you do that, you have a pretty solid recipe.

Now that I have said this, there may have been a chance I messed up the sauce (I think the juice of lemon #2 was in the yogurt). Still the chicken was great, so stop arguing with me and just make the chicken darn it!

It looks pretty while marinading. Just not so much in it's final form.

My grocery did not have boneless skinless chicken thighs that I could find and I was too lazy to ask. So I bought bone-in thighs complete with skin. With patience and a good knife, it was not too bad to convert the desired condition myself. That said I feel like the net effort of not asking, then de-boning was a loss.

Conclusion:
Chicken: awesome. Sauce: <gag>.

Buffalo Chicken (Optional) Soup

2017-03-08 Edit: derpy, derpy, derp. This is a repeat of this blog entry with the discussion of optional chicken added. 

To meat or not to meat: that is the question!

There is something unnatural about making anything "Buffalo" vegetarian in my humble opinion. Buffalo chicken wings, Buffalo CHICKEN dip, Buffalo CHICKEN soup, etc. The words Buffalo and chicken just belong together. Anything else is an unholy abomination!

While I am at it, you know what else is unnatural: Velveeta "cheese product". Velveeta happens to be a key ingredient to this recipe so let us get unnatural together!

Anyway today's story goes like this: the wifey was having a bunch of new hires over. She does not know of any food restrictions but thought there might be a vegetarian in the mix. (Aside: LIES! There was not.) She asked that I be accommodating to vegetarian. Now as opinionated as I am about food, Doctor Who, or the terrible state of modern driving, I always try to accommodate reasonable food restrictions. So I decided to give my beloved Buffalo CHICKEN soup recipe the vegetarian once over. The original recipe (ok the original, original recipe is linked here) is list below, with the minor vegetarian changes noted in parentheses.

Resouces:
2 bunches green onions, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
1⁄4 cup butter
1⁄4 cup flour
3⁄4 cup milk
3⁄4 cup chicken broth (vegetable broth)
2 cups diced cooked chicken (neglected for vegetarian)
1⁄2 cup Frank's RedHot
4 ounces Velveeta cheese
1⁄2 teaspoon cayenne
1⁄2 teaspoon celery salt
1⁄2 teaspoon garlic salt

Method:
Sauté (medium to medium-low heat) the green onions and celery in the butter until the celery is tender.

Stir in flour until smooth and slightly golden.

Slowly add milk and broth. Stopping to mix thoroughly as you go.

Add remaining ingredients. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until cheese has melted and well mixed.

Commentary:
"Come on baby, just the tip?" Er I meant to say just not the tip. I used the whole green onions except the rooty tip.

This quantity of Frank's and cayenne makes for a pretty spicy soup. I recommend reducing the Frank's down to 1/3 cup to reduce the heat if desired. That said, it a critical flavor component. Without Frank's this is not the same soup. So if you want something with no heat, move along.

The celery adds some crunch to this recipe. Based on your tastes that could be a good or a bad thing. Respond according. By which I mean add/reduce, chop bigger/smaller pieces of celery, etc to your taste, not send me your pro-celery socialist propaganda.

Just for my own curosity I just Googled "pro-celery socialist propaganda". Sadly it was entirely less interesting than I had hoped. Anyone out there a graphic artist who wants to work me up a new logo? I cannot pay you, but it would be great exposure. <wink, wink>

I have tweeked this one way or the other plenty of times: add some garlic instead of the garlic salt, more or less celery, more or less chicken, etc. It is a pretty forgiving recipe and can easily be modified to personal taste.

I always buy the big block of Velveeta. DO NOT DO THAT. I think it is two pounds or something. 

By the way, this freezes well. Make a double batch. No: octuple since you bought the big block after I told you not to!

Conclusion:
The original recipe is amazing and I love it. ♥♥ <obligatory Doctor Who nod>

The vegetarian modification... did not taste any different. Let's face it when you have that much Velveeta and Frank's a bit of chicken is not going to sway the taste one way or the other.

Creamy Corn Pasta With Basil

CORN! But more about that later.

So with the new house, I planted some cilantro and some basil. No real plan honestly. It just sounded like a good idea at the time. We had grown cilantro at the last place and I figured I should expand. The problem is I did not have any recipes in mind for the copious amounts of basil. 

So the obvious answer is pesto. Great fine. I should make pesto. But I am a non-conformist at heart, so fuck your pesto. Instead I made this!

Mind you, I am a practical non-conformist. This used a tiny amount of basil compared to what I have. So I should probably still make pesto...

Resources:
Sea salt
12 ounces dry pasta (the original recipe called for orecchiette or farfalle, I used rotini)
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 bunch scallions (about 8), trimmed and thinly sliced (keep the whites and greens separate)
2 cups CORN kernals (about 3 large ears shucked)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus lots more for garnish
1/3 cup finely torn basil
1 chicken breast fully cooked and diced
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Method:
Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil. Cook pasta until 1 minute shy of al dente. Drain, reserving about a 1/2 cup of pasta water.

Heat oil in large pot over medium heat; add scallion whites and a pinch of salt and cook until soft, 3 minutes. Add 1/4 cup water and all but 1/4 cup CORN; simmer until CORN is heated through and almost tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, transfer to a blender, and purée mixture until smooth, adding a little extra water if needed to get a thick but pourable texture.

Heat the pan over high heat. Add butter and let melt. Add reserved 1/4 cup CORN and cook until tender, 1 to 2 minutes. (It’s O.K. if the butter browns, that deepens the flavor.) Add the CORN purée and cook for 30 seconds to heat and combine the flavors.

Reduce heat to medium. Add pasta and 1/4 cup the reserved pasta cooking water, tossing to coat. Cook for 1 minute, then add a little more of the pasta cooking water if the mixture seems too thick. Stir in 1/4 cup of the scallion greens, the Parmesan, the herbs, 1/4 teaspoon pepper (less to taste), 1/4 teaspoon salt, and chicken. Sprinkle with lemon juice and remaining olive oil (less to taste). Garnish with more scallions and basil.

Commentary:
I eliminated red pepper flakes. I added chicken. Why because these things please the wifey. Happy wife = happy life. Anyway the original recipe can be found here.

I bought two ears for fresh sweet corn. I wanted fresh because this was using fresh basil from my garden picked about an hour and half before dinner. This is going to be all fresh damnit!

Good Intentions

Reality.

I cook a fair bit and I like to cook weird things. That said, pasta sauce is diary based, oil based, tomato based, stock based, etc. A corn based sauce weirds me out. 

If you are still reading at this point, I just really like CORN. Growing up there was a local farm that had excellent sweet. Or more likely it was pretty average sweet corn, but childhood memories make me have an irrational like for CORN, so CORN!

Conclusion:
Simply delicious. Easily the best thing I have made recently. Make sure not to skimp on the cheese though.

One-Pot Chicken Fajita Pasta

I ate my plate too quickly for pictures. So you get the left overs.

The other day I had one of those awesome "the wifey has a new recipe she wants to try" moments. These are exciting moments in my life.

Sad I know. What can I say, in my mid-thirties I am easily excited.

Well I got my "bitch ass back in the kitchen"! Heck these moments are an excuse for me to blog, drink beer, and play with knives. What is not to love?

Please validate my mid-life-i-ness!

Drinking "Dad" sounds like some crazy viking funeral ritual.

So one of the recipes she sends me is One-Pot Chicken Fajita Pasta. Now this seemed like a trap. The recipe looked potentially spicy and it had red and yellow peppers in it. These are not things she loves. She did try to talk me into switching over to green pepper. I stood strong though. I have made it twice now and both times I have stuck to the the yellow and red peppers.

Resources:
2 tsp olive oil, divied
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 tsp kosher salt, divided
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin, divided
1 tsp paprika, divided
1/2 tsp chili powder, divided
1/2 tsp garlic powder, divided
1 large white onion, sliced
1 large red bell pepper, sliced
1 large yellow bell pepper, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
1 (10-oz) can Mild Ro-Tel Diced Tomatoes & Green Chiles
7 oz pasta
1/2 cup light sour cream
1 scallion, diced (or not if you are forgetful)
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1 diced small avocado

One might call this resource intensive. But what do I care, I do not do the grocery shopping!

Method:
Season chicken with 3/4 tsp salt, 1 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp paprika, 1/4 tsp chili powder and 1/4 tsp garlic powder. In a large deep nonstick skillet, heat 1 teaspoon olive oil over high heat. When the oil is very hot, add the chicken and cook until browned, stirring about 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and set aside.

Reduce heat to medium, add the remaining teaspoon of olive oil to the skillet. When the oil is hot, add the onions, bell peppers, and remaining 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp paprika, 1/4 tsp chili powder and 1/4 tsp garlic powder,. Cook, stirring occasionally, until desired softness, about 10-15 minutes. Add minced garlic, and stir until fragrant and well combined, about 30 seconds. Remove from heat and transfer to the bowl with the chicken.

In the same skillet, add the broth, diced tomatoes and uncooked pasta. Stir to combine and bring to a boil, then cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook for 15 minutes until pasta is tender and liquid is mostly absorbed. Add the chicken and veggies back into the skillet and stir to combine until heated through, about 2 minutes. Mix in the sour cream and top with scallions, cilantro, and avocado.

Commentary:
The chicken as is it quite enjoyable. That recipe is worth keeping itself.

"Transfer to a large bowl" is a change from the original. They had suggested a plate. I had chicken and peppers ready to fall off my plate in a tasty avalanche of wasted food. Use something better than a plate.

This picture does not capture the mountainous nature.

Round one, I screwed up and added the garlic at the reheat phase. The other time I added it appropriately. I noticed no difference.

Speaking of screw ups, diced scallions are noticeably absent from my pictures. Those missed round one as well. I guess they were a nice addition when fresh for round two. The left overs however you could not even tell they were there. The avocado and scallions really just seem like garnish.

Now the Ro-Tel does add a bit of heat. So that did not go over well. Round two I replaced with a can of diced tomatoes.

Conclusion:
CURSE YOU RO-TEL! CURSE YOU AND YOUR BLACK HEART! This was a total winner until I added that. That made the recipe too spicy for the wifey. The iteration without was good too I suppose.