Penne with Spicy Chicken Alfredo

I have never before purchased a book by Sandra Lee of Semi-homemade Cooking fame but happened to gander at this one called 20 Minute Meals. I've seen her previous cookbooks and saw some of the reviews and agreed. Many of her recipes are just too unhealthy or not particularly budget conscious. The recipes in this book looked considerably better and fitted my budget, food choices and occasional time constraints. Tonight was the first recipe. We loved it! Definite keeper recipe.

First, the pasta. I didn't even notice that it said 'mini' penne pasta. I just used regular size. You can use Mostaccioli also. It's the same thing without ridges. I had a coupon for the Classico Alfredo Sauce. It's $2.85 for a jar. Yes, to you gourmet types, you can make your own alfredo sauce (see link at bottom)! You need about 2 cups of sauce. Commercial Alfredo Sauce is nearly half the calories of homemade. Finally, instead of packaged chicken strips, I just used fresh chicken breasts, a little salt and pepper, browned a little with olive oil, covered and cooked. I let it cool a few minutes, then sliced into strips. If you have cubed, precooked chicken in your freezer, that would work fine in this recipe and keep you to 20 minutes cooking time. Even cooking the chicken, this was ready in 30 minutes once the ingredients were assembled. The original recipe asked for a 2.5 oz. can of olives. I used a 6 oz. and was glad. I love olives!

FAST, 20 minute recipe.

Penne with Spicy Chicken Alfredo

8 oz. penne pasta
1 jar (16 oz) Alfredo sauce (I used Classico brand)
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes with Italian spices (can use regular diced also)
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (original asked for 1/2 which was too much for me)
12 oz precooked chicken breast, sliced into strips
1 can (6 oz) sliced black olives, drained

1. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package directions. Drain well; return to hot pot. Cover; keep warm
2. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, combine Alfredo sauce, tomatoes, Italian seasoning, and red pepper flakes over medium heat. Stir in chicken and olives. Bring to a simmer; cook for 10 minutes.
3. Serve hot over cooked pasta. Top with Parmesan cheese. Makes 4 servings.

Homemade Alfredo Sauce
Here's a link to America's Test Kitchen Alfredo recipe. Please note that they tested fresh Parmesan cheeses and found DiGiorgno to be as good as Parmigiano-Reggiano for a lot less money.

http://www.foodreference.com/html/fett-alfredo-807.html