Forced Nesting - Chicken Mushroom Rigatoni

That is what I have been doing. Forcing myself to get things done around here in fear that I won't be ready when the baby arrives. Still so much to do!!! Plan a 2 year old's birthday party (sniff sniff.....does 2 mean he isn't a baby anymore????), and clean clean clean clean clean. Thank goodness I have the cooking done.

Are you hearing this??? Cooking and cleaning??? Since when have these ever been important to me?? Soooooooooooo lame.

Anyway, I had a few requests for my Chicken Mushroom Rigatoni recipe. I took this recipe from Canadian Family magazine and adapted it a little bit by adding chicken and mushrooms. I am planning on serving it for Lucas' birthday meal. I wanted to make the main dish ahead of time so I didn't have to stress out too much about supper and I could just relax and enjoy the party.

Chicken Mushroom Rigatoni

1 tsp olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped shallots (who ever has shallots on hand???? I used an onion.)
1 tbsp minced garlic
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
2 cups soy milk (I used 2% milk)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper (which is not nearly enough. I am a pepper freak and probably used close to 2 tsp or more)
Pinch nutmeg (hmmm....I just realized I forgot to add that when I made it)
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
1 lb rigatoni
4 cups baby spinach (I think they mean fresh, I used frozen and just added some until I thought it looked like enough)
1 cup grated mozza cheese
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
chopped mushrooms - however many tickle your fancy

Preheat oven to 425. Lightly grease 9 x 13 inch pan. Cube chicken breast, and saute it in a large skillet until browned. In a separate frying pan, saute garlic and onion in oil until translucent. Add butter; when it has melted, whisk in flour. Add milk and whisk until smooth. Continue to cook until sauce thickens to the consistency of yogurt. Stir in salt, pepper, nutmeg and Parmesan cheese. Reduce heat to minimum and stir occasionally.

While making sauce, bring large pot of salted water to boil. Add rigatoni and cook for 8 minutes; drain, reserving 1 cup of pasta water. (The pasta will not be fully cooked but not to worry you are baking it in the oven later). Add spinach to pasta pot and top with just cooked pasta. Add sauce and cooked chicken and stir until well combined. Transfer to prepared pan and top with mozzarella cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 20 minutes.

Delish!

Maybe I will post some of my other recipes from time to time. And by my recipes I mostly mean my mom gave them to me.

Now just to make Lucas' cupcakes. I am going to try my best to keep it simple because......

a) Lucas doesn't care if there are little fondant cars on his cupcakes. He only cares he gets to eat them.
b) I am 9 months pregnant for Pete's sake and cupcakes are the last thing I should be worrying about. Still.....I probably will be going to sleep tonight thinking of ideas.