Grilled Chicken Caprese Pasta

Happy Father's Day to all the dad's out there. I'm pretty sure that I have the best dad there is! And my kids are blessed to have a pretty darn good dad also. He does so much for us, it was nice to have a day dedicated especially to spoiling him! 

We wanted to make Father's Day special for my husband this year so my kids and I decided to celebrate with a homemade Italian dinner. Of course, all our recipes came from Pinterest, and fortunately, they all turned out delicious! 

We had Grilled Chicken Caprese Pasta, homemade breadsticks, salad with Little Italy Italian dressing, and Italian soda. Delizioso!!

The fun part of this dinner was having most of the kids help with parts of it. Dad got to relax, and they got to feel like they were contributing to his special day.

Here's the recipe we used for the Grilled Chicken Caprese Pasta. 

(I increased the amounts of everything and made a really big batch, but I will leave it in original portions, which should feed about six).

                      Grilled Chicken Caprese Pasta
            
            Ingredients 

• 2 medium chicken breast halves (about one pound), chopped and grilled
• 9 oz Rigatoni or Penne pasta 
• 2 cups fire roasted tomato pasta sauce (Classico works great)
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/3 cup finely grated Romano Cheese
• 1 clove garlic, finely minced
• Red pepper flakes, to taste (optional, for added heat)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 pint grape tomatoes, diced into halves or thirds
• 12 oz fresh mozzarella, grated
• 16 fresh Basil leaves, sliced into thin strips

            Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cook pasta to al dente according to directions listed on package. 

Meanwhile, in a separate medium saucepan over medium low heat, heat pasta sauce, heavy cream, Romano cheese, garlic, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper.

Cook, stirring frequently, until cheese melts.

Drain cooked pasta well, then mix in the chopped chicken, tomatoes, half the cheese, and most of the basil (save some basil to garnish with before serving if desired).

Pour warm sauce over and toss gently to coat. 
Sprinkle with remaining cheese, and cook uncovered for about 25 minutes, until the cheese is golden.

      

I ended up being glad that we made a really huge batch of this because everybody went back for seconds and thirds. It was really so very delicious. 

My husband loved it and appreciated the extra effort we made to serve something he would love for Father's Day dinner!

P.S. We made the breadsticks out of the same recipe we use for our yummy garlic knots (here). Instead of turning the dough into knots, we just rolled it out on a couple of stones and slathered the sauce on before baking it for about 8 minutes (at 500 degrees). These are almost as good as garlic knots, but faster to make!

 

Basic White Sandwich Bread

I love homemade bread, but I rarely make it. Mostly because it seems like a lot of work to go through just to have it gobbled up instantly by my family. But, the other night I noticed that we were all out of bread, and we needed some by the next morning for sandwiches for my kids' school lunches. Rather than run to the store, or get creative with a sandwich-less lunch, I decided it was time to try out this recipe I had pinned for basic white sandwich bread. 

I followed her recipe pretty closely, only substituting the cup of milk she called for for reconstituted powdered milk. 

These loaves turned out delicious, and just the right firmness and consistency to use for sandwiches. In fact, we liked this bread so much that I put off going to the store a little longer and made two more loaves the next day! 

Here's the recipe I used to make two loaves of this 

Basic White Sandwich Bread

1 cup warm water

2 tbsp white sugar

2 tsp active-dry yeast

2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

1 cup milk (or reconstituted powdered milk)

1 tbsp salt

5 1/2 - 6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

The first thing I always do when making bread dough in my mixer is to warm up the metal bowl by running it under hot water. This helps to keep things warm while the yeast does it's thing. 

To the warm bowl add the warm water. It should be tap water hot... not so hot that it's boiling or too hot to touch, but still pretty warm. If you want to be technical, I think the temperature that's best for yeast to proof is between 105° F and 110° F. So, pull out your thermometer if you want to check for sure.

Next, mix the sugar into the water. Sugary water seems to help the yeast work better too. Then sprinkle the yeast on top and let sit for a few minutes while it starts to dissolve and "grow".

Then add the melted butter, the milk, salt, and one cup of flour and mix well. Slowly add another 41/2 cups of the flour. 

Use the dough hook attachment to knead the dough for about ten minutes, adding more flour a little at a time if necessary until the dough is a nice consistency. It should end up being smooth and springy, but not very sticky.

The original blogger recommends stopping the mixer every so often and hand kneading the dough a little (in the opposite direction). I actually found this helpful with this recipe. 

Once you have that nice smooth dough, coat another large bowl with cooking spray or a little oil and drop in your ball of dough. Turn the ball of dough over so that it has a slight oil coating on all sides. Then cover the bowl (I usually use a clean dish towel) and let it rise in a warm place for about an hour, or until it has about doubled in size.

Once it has risen punch down the dough, and then divide it into two loose balls. Let them rest while you grease two loaf pans. 

With a little flour sprinkled on your counter, turn out the dough and shape each ball into loaves and carefully place into your loaf pans. Cover again, and let them rise for about 30 - 40 minutes, until the dough starts to dome over the edges of the pans. 

Once risen slash the tops of each loaf with a serrated knife and place them in the oven, preheated to 425° F. Immediately turn the oven down to 375°F and bake for 30 to 35 minutes. The loaves should be a dark golden brown color when done. 

Take them out of the pans and let them completely cool before slicing. 

This recipe turned out to be pretty simple after all... maybe I'll have to change my thinking and make our sandwich bread more often!