Chicken-Pasta Skillet

Although I love food, I have a confession. I am not the biggest fan of anything tomato. When I was younger, I didn't like tomatoes, ketchup, marinara sauce, or anything tomato-based. I ate pasta with butter and cheese, and lived on it. As I got older, I started to like it more and more, but still am not a fan of tomato soup or pasta drowned in sauce. So I was a bit hesitant to try this recipe, but the picture did not look too saucy, and it looked like I could actually control how much sauce goes into the meal. So I took a chance.
Let's just say I'm glad I have some intuition in the kitchen! This was a very easy recipe, but it could very easily have gone wrong.

I decided to double the recipe so we would have lots of leftovers. I cooked the chicken, which always takes longer than the recipe says (it took about 10 minutes). I then added green pepper and onion, chopped, just because it would cook faster, and I am not always a fan of strips of floppy onion and peppers unless it's in a fajita. 

 The recipe calls for 2 cups of uncooked pasta (doubled 4 cups), and a whole box of rotini is approximately 6 cups. As with most pasta meals, I added the whole box of pasta, because you can never have too much!

I was skeptical to add the pasta into the meal uncooked, because it takes a lot of liquid to cook pasta, and the recipe had very little liquid in it. But I wanted to go by the books. 

Before adding the additional cup of pasta

I checked the pasta about every 5 minutes while cooking, because I was afraid the liquid would cook away, and I'm glad I did. After about 10 minutes, it started sticking to the bottom of the pan. I then added an additional 1 cup of water, hiked up the temp for a minute to get it boiling again, and then turned it back down to simmer. Even with the extra water, when it was finished, there were some pieces of pasta that were a bit brown from sticking. 

I will say, if I did not lift the lid to check it so often, more liquid might have stayed in, maybe not causing it to stick so fast. But I didn't want to take that chance and ruin the whole pot. It also might have taken a bit more liquid because I added more pasta, but I don't think it should have made that much of a difference. 

Tip for pasta: You could also cook the pasta separately, and then add it to the pan. You would not need to add the water at all, although I would suggest taking a bit of the water from the pasta and put it in the mixture. To quote my favorite talk show host, Rachael Ray, "It’s the magic liquid that marries the sauce to the pasta itself." Once you add the pasta, mix it in, and then add the sauce.

For the sauce, due to my not-so-fondness of it, I did not double it to include 2 jars of marinara sauce, and I am glad I didn't. For some, maybe you would want to, but as you can see, there was plenty of sauce to go around. 

The end result was a delicious chicken, pasta and cheese delight. And the moral of this meal: go with your gut, and don't be afraid to check to make sure it's not burning. 

Chicken-Pasta Skillet
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 green pepper, cut into strips
1 small onion, sliced
1 1/2 cups water
2 cups rotini pasta, uncooked
1 jar (24 oz.) traditional pasta sauce
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Cook and stir chicken in large skilled sprayed with cooking spray on medium-high heat 5 minutes. Add vegetables; cook and stir 5 minutes. Stir in water; bring to a boil.
2. Add pasta; stir until completely covered with water. Cover with lid; simmer on medium-low heat for 15 minutes or until pasta is tender. Stir in sauce.
3. Sprinkle with cheese. Cook covered on low heat for 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted or pasta mixture is heated through, stirring occasionally.