Cheesy Chicken Pasta Bake

This dish is so filling and cheesy and such a snap to make!

What you'll need:

• 6 tbs. butter

• Salt and Pepper

• 1 box (14.5 oz.) Whole Wheat Penne

• 1 tsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

• 3 Boneless, Skinless, Chicken Breast

• 1/2 cup (roughly) Flour

• 4 tbs. Chopped Garlic

• 6 cups Whole Milk

• 1 (8oz. jar) Sun-Ripened Tomatoes, chopped

• 2 cups shredded Provolone & Mozzarella Cheese

• 2 cups grated Parmesan Cheese

.

 Heat oven to 400°F and butter a shallow 4-quart baking dish or 2-2 quart baking dishes to freeze one for later.

Cook the pasta until tender, according to the package directions. Meanwhile, prepare your chicken for cooking.  In a skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat and add you chicken after preparing them as below.

Cut any fat off of the chicken and cut in half lengthwise.

Then cut through the middle so that the chicken opens up like a butterfly.  Cut pieces away from each other.

Lay them in the skillet pretty snug and season with salt and pepper.

Remove your pasta from the heat and drain.  Set aside the pasta and once the chicken is completely cooked through (165°) remove from pan and place on a non-wood cutting surface.  Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces and set aside.  

While the chicken skillet is still warm, add in the butter and the garlic and saute until the garlic is golden brown.  Add the flour and while whisking add the milk slowly to form a "gravy-type" consistency.  

Whisk until the mixture is thick and add in the tomatoes.  

Remove skillet from heat and stir in the Provolone and Mozzarella cheese.  Then add 1/2 cup Parmesan to the mixture and combine.  Transfer your mixture to a large stock pot and add the chicken pieces and the cooked pasta.  Season with salt and pepper and pour the entire dish into one 4-quart dish or divide among two 2-quart dishes.

Sprinkle the top with the remaining Parmesan cheese and any Provolone/Mozzarella cheese you have left.  Bake uncovered for about 30 minutes or until golden brown on top and all the cheese is melted.

ENJOY!

Transit of Venus

Back on June 5th we decided to "attempt" to view the Transit of Venus.  We were pleasantly surprised at how amazing it was and how we were able to actually focus in on it and see it pretty clear.  I tried to capture it through my camera to no avail and I was afraid I would fry my lens, so we tried the mirror approach instead and it was a success!

The cloud cover here in the Willamette Valley made it a bit difficult at first.

Then it cleared off and we were able to start looking.

  

We set a white sheet up on the backside of our garage and positioned a mirror so that we could focus on what we needed to see without burning our retinas out.  ha!

Looking through the homemade pin-hole binoculars we made.

After tilting and moving the mirror around we finally spotted a little dot in the upper right-hand corner.

Do you see it?  

(The small white dots around the edge on either side of the mirror were just designs on the mirror itself. ) 

It finally showed up, after an hour and a half of looking, and we were thrilled that we could show this to Skylar.  It won't come again under 2117, so this was a great thing for all three of us to see.

Later that night the moon looked like a big wheel of cheese.