Baked Spinach Artichoke Pasta with Chicken

I am KNOWN for my hot spinach artichoke dip.  Seriously....I would take it to potlucks at work and would need to make a quadruple recipe and it would still be gone in 15-30 minutes.  I actually got the idea from Pinterest to make it into a baked pasta dish.  WHY have I not thought of this before?? Unbelievable.... Anywho, I had the ingredients to make the dip and didn't make it for something that I had planned so guess what was on the menu this week for dinner?  Yep!  You guessed it!  And if by chance you were wanting the dip recipe, all you need to do is omit the chicken and the pasta from the recipe and make your own bad-ass-perpetually-requested dip.  I do HIGHLY recommend using the frozen artichoke hearts and here's why....the canned version are usually in a brine with an acid of some kind and it affects the flavor of the dish.  Even thoroughly washing it doesn't take everything away. The frozen artichoke hearts might be the most difficult thing to find for this dish but I promise it is WELL worth the hunt.  Enjoy!

Baked Spinach Artichoke Pasta with Chicken

• 1 8-oz. package cream cheese, softened (I used Neufchatel or the reduced fat version)
• 1 cup mayonnaise (NOT Miracle Whip...the real thing)
• 4 garlic cloves, pressed (I always end up adding more)
• 1 small box of frozen artichoke hearts, thawed, drained, and chopped
• 1 box frozen chopped spinach, thawed and thoroughly drained
• 3/4 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese
• 1/3 cup thinly sliced green onions
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/3 cup chopped red bell pepper
• 1 large cooked chicken breast, chopped into bite-size pieces
• 1/2 a box of Penne pasta

Preheat oven to 350F.  Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the pasta according to directions until al dente. Combine cream cheese and mayonnaise in a bowl.  Mix well.  Press garlic into bowl and add artichokes, spinach, parmesan cheese, green onions, black pepper, and red bell pepper into bowl.  Mix well.  Add chopped cooked chicken breast to mixture.  Once pasta is done, combine spinach artichoke mixture with drained pasta. Gently toss to combine until all pasta is evenly distributed.  Place in a casserole dish that was greased with non-stick spray.  Place, uncovered, in oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown around the edges.

Heavenly, Reduced-Fat Banana Pudding

You may be asking yourself HOW can the words "heavenly" and "reduced-fat" be in the same sentence as banana pudding.  Well, I'm telling you...they CAN!  And you won't want to miss this.  It does not, I repeat, DOES NOT taste like it is reduced-fat.  But keep that in mind as you go back for seconds and wrap your lips around this delicious morsel.  You won't be able to help yourself...I promise.  Making this recipe reduced-fat was actually pretty easy.  It's all a matter of switching out the ingredients for a light, fat-free, or even sugar-free version.  And no one will be the wiser...it is that decadent!  Enjoy!

Heavenly Reduced-Fat Banana Pudding

• Reduced fat Nilla Wafers
• 2 bananas, sliced
• 1 small package sugar free, fat free instant vanilla pudding
• 1 can fat free sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup fat free sour cream
• 1 8-oz package Cool Whip Lite

Line a dish with Nilla wafers.  Prepare pudding according to package directions, except use 1/2 cup less milk so it is not too runny. (I typically use 1% milk) Mix remaining ingredients with the prepared pudding.  Fold in the bananas.  Pour over the wafers and chill until ready to serve.

*You can alternately layer the banana slices on top of the wafers and pour the pudding mixture over the top.  Or you can prepare the pudding and present it as a parfait, as I did in the picture above, with alternating layers of the pudding mixture and Nilla wafers.