Make Ahead Baked Penne with Chicken and Broccoli

Prep Time: 50 min
Cool Time: 30 min
Cook Time: 40 min

Grade: B

Make Again: Probably not

Recipe Source: Make Ahead Cook book

I have made all sorts of versions of this recipe from America's Test Kitchen books in the past. I always have the same thoughts. It tastes good, but it is not amazing. And it always takes longer than I think I should.

It is not a complicated recipe, but there are lots of ingredients, so it just ends up taking some time to get it altogether. Getting the chicken, broccoli and pasta to all cook correctly is based on the timing. It all worked out well and things were cooked just like I would want. 

The leftovers don't last too long. The next day they were fine, but after that the pasta gets too mushy. I think when I want chicken and broccoli with a carb in one dish, I will stick with stir-fries which last longer as leftovers and are a little less work.

Two Quick Pork Tenderloin Dinners

Recipe 1: Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Fall Vegetables

Prep Time: 15 minutes each
Cook Time: 30+ minutes

Grade: B+

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Everyday Food (November2011)

You start with this recipe and you save 1/2 of one of the pork tenderloins. Actually, since I cut recipe in half, I only used one tenderloin.

This was my first time trying parsnips (as far as I know) and brussels sprouts since I was kid. I loved the parsnips, but was neutral on the brussels sprouts. I should probably try a recipe with bacon and then I'd probably like them more. :-)

It made two meals for me and had lots of vegetables which was nice. There was very little effort to the meal, and I liked knowing I had a head start on a 2nd meal later that week. 

Recipe 2: Lo Mein with Pork

Total Time: 15 - 20 minutes 

Grade: A-

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Everyday Food (November2011)

 

I subbed a bit in this recipe using vegetables I liked. It isn't the most amazing stir-fry in the world, but for a real quick dinner it was great. I will definitely use this technique again - roasting some protein and saving it for a later stir-fry. 

Stir Fried Beef with Garlic and Rosemary

Total Time: 30 minutes

Grade: B-

Make Again: No

Recipe Source: Everyday Food

I  didn't love this as much as I thought I would. It was an Italian twist on stri-fry served on top of polenta.

I guess part of the problem was having trouble getting the broccoli cooked properly. It tasted ok, but I don't think I will make again. The picky eater liked it, and it was easy, so maybe I'll change my mind, but I would cook the broccoli separately probably, then mix it in at the end.

Roasted Vegetable Pizza

Dough: 90 minutes
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Grade: C-
Make Again: No
Recipe Source: Light & Healthy 2010
 
The picture of this looked so good to me. (In the book, not mine!)

But I really didn't care for it. The dough was fine and I liked the crust of the pizza, which is why the recipe still gets a C. But I hated the no-cook sauce. It made the top of the dough crust a little soggy and it also made my roasted veggies soggy too, so the awesome-ness of roasted veggies disappeared.

I will probably use the dough recipe again and experiment with my own toppings, but I won't be using this light and healthy recipe again.

Cheesy Broccoli and Rice Casserole

Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Bake Time: 15 minutes
Cool Time: 5 minutes

Grade: A-

Make Again:Maybe

Recipe Source: Light & Healthy 2010

I believe this is makeover of a recipe that originally appeared in Cook's Country and is in the Best of 2010 book.  I wanted to try the recipe from the Best of book, but I see no reason to use that recipe when this one is lighter and plenty good.

This is good, but more work than I really want for a side dish. I think I might use the recipe for just a cheesy rice and then serving steamed broccoli on the side, which people can mix in if they want.

The recipe uses low fat evaporated milk (I only found non-fat) and lower fat cheese (I used regular, but less).   The recipe was very flavorful, but probably not super low calorie, when you remember that it is a side dish.

Chicken with Rice, Broccoli and Cheddar

Total Time: 40 minutes
Grade: A-
Make Again: Yes
Recipe Source: Best 30-Minute Recipes

I got The Best 30-Minute recipes from the library in hopes that I would start cooking more again since I have a little bit more free time this summer.

All the recipes I've tried previously have been pretty good, and so far the two I tried this week are good options also.

This took longer than it should have because I was just being slow. But it still would probably take a little more than 30 minutes. I used fresh broccoli instead of frozen.

It was really good.

Broccoli Soup

Total Time: 35 minutes

Grade: A-

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Cook's Illustrated (November 1996)

There are still a lot of recipes from the January 2010 Cook's Illustrated magazine that I want to try (and March was just put online!), but I am very, very busy at the moment. I'm also trying to clean out my freezer, pantry and fridge before buying any new ingredients as much as possible.

So, I had a huge bag of broccoli florets that needed to be used up. I remembered a pureed broccoli soup that I used to make from a Jane Brody cook book that I no longer own. The Cook's Illustrated recipe looked similar (as far as I can remember) so I tried it. It is very simple to make and I thought it tasted very good. The only minor flaw was that I didn't probably puree long enough, and the little pieces of florets created a texture that wasn't always the most pleasing (when they clumped up.) But it wasn't too much of a problem.

It was still very good 2 days later. It is a great way to use up broccoli before it goes bad. I sprinkled with a little cheddar cheese when serving which you may see in the picture.

In my cooking time, I also made some home made croutons from two pieces of almost getting stale wheat bread. They were a delicious addition to the soup. I'll do that again since it was so easy.

I can't post the recipe, but here are the ingredients. You basically just saute the onions, add the wine or sherry (I used Vermouth) and then cook the broth and broccoli until very tender (but not army green.) Then puree in a blender with the milk. I used less salt than called for and it was plenty.

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, or olive oil (you could get by with less)
1 small onion, chopped
2 tablespoons dry sherry or white wine (I used Vermouth which I always have on hand)
5 cups broccoli florets cut small
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth or low-sodium vegetable broth
1 teaspoon table salt (I used half)
ground white pepper (I forgot this)
1/2 cup milk (I used 1%)

The original recipe calls from fresh basil which I am sure is great, but I skipped.

For the croutons, I did a 1/2" dice with a serrated knife on two slices of wheat bread. I sprayed with Olive Oil spray and tossed in a bowl with a few shakes of salt. I was pretty generous with the spray and sprayed more than once after tossing, so I wouldn't say it was 2 calories. :-) However, it is a lot lighter this way than tossing with oil. The spray is nice because you can add evenly without needing so much.

Then I baked for abou 10 minutes at 350, tossing once halfway through. Keep an eye on them to make sure they don't burn.

Beef and Broccoli with Oyster Sauce

Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 12-15 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Cook's Illustrated (September 2003)

This isn't as great as the Thai-Style Beef recipe, but it is a good stir fry. I have finally learned to clean up between the prep and cooking when I do stir fries and it makes a huge difference. My kitchen doesn't look like a disaster when the food is ready to eat and I feel less stressed when I'm cooking. I think it goes faster too.

Skillet Ziti with Chicken and Broccoli

Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes (lots of cooking done while prepping)

Grade: A-

Make Again: Maybe

Recipe Source: Cook's Country (Feb 2005)

This one is not as easy as I thought it would be. I don't know why - just a lot more prep than I wanted, I guess. I really liked the flavor the first time I made it, and the 2nd time I was less impressed. I realized the difference was the first time, I subbed a 1/4 c cream and 3/4 water for the 1 cup of milk. This time I made with 2% milk and it was less rich.

My sub adds calories, (but maybe only 25 per serving) so I might try again that way. The one thing I have to remember with this recipe is to add the broccoli later than the recipe suggest. The broccoli cooks way faster than my pasta and gets overcooked when I used the recipe's times.

Orecchiette with Sausage and Roasted Peppers

Total Time: 28 minutes

Grade: A-

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Everyday Food (September 2004)

This is a good recipe for under 30 minutes. It doesn't call for broccoli but you can cook it in the pasta water before the pasta. I'm always happy when I can add broccoli or more veggies to a recipe and this works well. You can use jarred roasted peppers, but I roasted mine from scratch, and was still able to finish recipe in under 30 minutes, by starting the water and peppers at the same time.

Chicken Divan Pasta

Total Time: 40 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Me - inspired by Cook's Country Modern Chicken Divan

I tried changing up the Modern Chicken Divan recipe from Cook's Country to make it a little more appealing to me. I had really liked the flavor of the sauce, and I love chicken and broccoli, so I wanted to find a way to make it really work for me. My goals were:

1) quicker. I don't care if I mess up another pot, if I can make something faster.
2) lighter (don't want to use a full cup of cream in a weeknight dish). However, this is still not a truly "light" dish
3) some sort of carbs included in the recipe, like pasta
4) using more reasonable ingredient amounts (I hate it when a recipe calls for strange amounts of chicken broth - like 2.5 cups of broth, meaning I had to open a 2nd can).


So here is my version:

Chicken Divan Pasta

Serves 4

1 1/2 pounds broccoli , florets cut into bite-sized pieces
1 T. vegetable oil
1 small onion, minced
2 T. flour
1 3/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/3 c. heavy cream
1 1/4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in half, and sliced into bite size pieces, about 1/4" thick
1/2 c. dry vermouth (or sherry)
2 t. Worcestershire sauce
1 c. grated Parmesan Cheese
salt and ground black pepper
2 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoons unsalted butter
8 oz pasta (I like Gemilli or Bow-tie)

1. Bring large stockpot of water to boil while starting to prep ingredients

2. When water boils, add 1 T. salt and broccoli. Cook for 1-2 minutes until bright green and starting to get tender. Remove with slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.

3. Bring water to boil again and add pasta. Cook until just al dente and drain. Set aside.

4. Meanwhile, heat oil in 12" pan (or a dutch oven, if you have 2nd large pan not being used for the pasta) over medium-high heat until almost smoking. Add onion and cook for a minute or two until softened.

5. Add flour and stir for a minute.

6. Add broth and cream, scraping up bits from bottom of pan. Stir until sauce is not lumpy from flour, about a minute or two.

7. Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper and add to sauce. Stir to break up pieces. Cook for a 3-4 minutes until chicken is cooked through (time will depend on size of your pieces.) When cooked, removed chicken from sauce with a slotted spoon, and place in a clean bowl.

8. Add vermouth and Worcestershire sauce to the sauce and simmer until slightly reduced, 2-3 minutes. Stir in Parmesan.

9. Whisk lemon juice and yolks in a small bowl. Stir in 1/4 cup of the sauce. Remove pan from heat, and add yolks mixture into the sauce, whisking immediately. Whisk in butter.

10. Add broccoli and chicken back to the sauce. (If you are using a 12" skillet or saute pan, you might want to combine everything in pot you cooked the broccoli and pasta in instead, for more room.) Stir carefully to combine everything and reheat briefly.

11. Optional - place in ovenproof dish, add a little more parmesan to the top and broil for a few minutes (put dish in middle of oven, not at the top.)

Modern Chicken Divan

Total Time: 55 minutes

Grade: A-

Make Again: No

Recipe Source: Cook's Country (October 2006)

I liked this, but felt like it took too long. I am not sure that pan roasting/steaming the broccoli added anything, and I am also not sure about the browning of the chicken breasts and cooking them whole. I believe that cutting the chicken up first and just cooking it in the sauce would be a lot quicker, and I suspect the chicken would taste just as good to my taste buds.

I did lighten up this dish a bit, and it still had a very flavorful sauce that I really liked. The one thing this recipe didn't have was some rice in it, which I missed. I cooked up some egg noodles to mix in the leftovers and it was delicious. I think I am going to try to recreate this dish with my changes to make it lighter and quicker and see what happens because it does make a nice meal, and I think it could be done in just over 30 minutes my way. We'll see.

Skillet Strata with Cheddar and Broccoli

Total Time: 35-40minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Best 30-Minute Recipes

This recipe works great with any bits of veggies and cheese that you have. I use it all the time to use up leftovers. Sausage and ham work well in here too.

I adjusted the main 30-Minute Skillet Strata recipe to use broccoli. I want to have a vegetable serving in it when I make this, which I think will be frequently, because it is delicious and fairly easy. So, it took me a little longer than 30 minutes, because of prepping and blanching the broccoli. I think it is important to dry the broccoli after blanching because there was a little extra liquid.

Also, I need to get my oven preheated before I even start, because it takes so long to preheat. I never got it up to 425, and it took much longer to cook. I used less butter in my version and I don't think it suffers from it.

I used 3 slices of wide pan bread, which worked better than the 5 called for. I had trouble last time fitting it all in.

So here is my version:

Skillet Strata with Cheddar and Broccoli
Serves 4

1 large bunch of broccoli, cut florets off into small pieces
2 T. unsalted butter.
1 small onion minced
salt
ground pepper
6 large eggs
1 1/2 c. milk (whole is best tasting, but skim works too)
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme (or 1/2 t. dried)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3 slices high-quality sandwich bread, cut into 1-inch squares (or 4-5 slices, if using smaller bread)

Prep ingredients first, because you will be doing several things at once.

1. Preheat oven to 425, and adjust rack to middle position.

2. Melt butter in 10" ovensafe nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, swirling to coat. Add onion and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. If using dried thyme add now. Cook until onion softened about 6 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, bring an inch of water to a boil in a saucepan. Add broccoli, and cook for 1 minute until bright green (but not completely tender). Drain and lay on some paper towels to absorb extra water. Pat tops dry.

4. Meanwhile, whisk eggs, milk, fresh thyme and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper in large bowl. Stir in cheese.

5. Toast bread by carefully folding into skillet with onions until evenly coated. Cook until lightly toasted, 3-4 minutes.

6. Add eggs to skillet, and fold together until slightly thickened and bread is soaking up eggs.

7. Finish in oven until puffed and edges pull away from sides, about 12 minutes.

Serve right away.

Curried Singapore Noodles

Total Time: 35 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

I change this recipe to use chicken instead of shrimp and whatever veggies I want to use. (Broccoli instead of bean sprouts, usually.) It is fast and easy and good.

Toasted Orzo with Parmesan

Prep Time: 18 minutes
Cook Time: 15-20 minutes

Grade: A-

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Cook's Illustrated (May 2003)

I am still trying to figure out how to adjust this recipe properly to use brocolli instead of peas. I think you need to cut the broccoli pretty small, and add a little extra water when you add the broccoli. About 6 minutes seems good, I think.

Spicy Stir-Fried Chicken with Noodle Cake

Prep Time:30 minutes
Cook Time:15 - 20 minutes

Grade: A+

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Cook's Illustrated (March 2003)

I prefer to make this recipe with broccoli and red peppers in place of the bok choy. I also like to use the velveting technique that they used in this version of the recipe found on America's Test Kitchen TV show.

Chicken Divan Casserole

Prep Time: 60 minutes
Assemble Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30-35 minutes
Rest Time: 10 minutes

Grade: A-

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Cover & Bake

I like this recipe, but I think it is underseasoned. Next time I will make sure to season the chicken when putting the casserole together. The very best thing about this recipe is that you can make all the parts the night before and put together. For this reason, I have used it for serving a casual dinner to extended family and friends.

Orecchiette with Broccoli, Sausage and Peppers

Total Time: 30 minutes

Grade: A-

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Cook's Illustrated (November 2002)

I like this recipe because it is quick and easy. It uses a pretty small amount of sausage, which gives it flavor, but the meal remains fairly light.

Pan Roasted Broccoli

Prep Time: 18 minutes
Cook Time: 6-8 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe: Cook's Illustrated January 2006

There are lots of good variations of this recipe from Cook's Illustrated on the subscriber website shown above. The one I have tried several times and liked was with the Spicy Southeast Asian Flavors. It is very delicious and goes well as a side dish for any type of Asian food.