Spicy Comfort Food

As promised in my previous, I shall share with you a tasty dinner recipe. This is one of those dishes that can be easily thrown together, at last minute, and it's quite adjustable. I did not come up with this idea. I came upon this dish one evening when I was out with my family. We all were in great need for comfort food as we'd spent the entire day at a wake and were taking a break for sustenance before enduring the evening visiting hours. My solution was a "make your own" burger, which I loaded with tomatoes, avocado, pickles and jalapenos, partnered with a pile of fries. My sister selected Buffalo Chicken pasta bake. At the time, her selection didn't seem very appealing to me. However, the more I thought about it, weeks later, the more brilliant it became. So, a month ago, I searched for viable recipes on Pinterest and I stumbled upon one that I really like. So, here is my version of the recipe.

Ingredients:
1-2 cooked chicken breasts (shredded) or 1 can of chunked chicken breast meat
1 pound pasta
1 cup finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese (plus extra for sprinkling on top, optional)
1/8 c. - 1/4 c. Tabasco
1/2 c.- 3/4 c. Ranch Dressing ( You could also use Blue Cheese dressing, too.)

So, from looking at my list of ingredients it's clear that this can be made according to personal taste. I happen to really like hot sauce, but not everyone in the household is used to that. This could also be the case if you have children in the home who can't handle the heat. I recommend supplying a bottle of hot sauce at the dinner table for those who wish to have more of a kick to their meal. With this recipe, you can adjust the hot sauce to ranch dressing ratio. When I first tasted this, before placing it in the oven, I found that it was too spicy, so I added more cheese and dressing to cool down the Tabasco. Also, I used canned chicken, because that is what I had on hand, but if you have left over cooked chicken breast, that would also work.

First, I put the pasta on to boil and while I had that going I mixed the Tabasco with dressing in a small bowl. I set that aside.

Once, my pasta was cooked and drained, I placed the pasta, cheese and chicken in a large bowl, along with the sauce and mixed it all together.

Next, I place the pasta in a greased casserole dish, topped the pasta with extra cheese and baked in a preheated oven, set at 350 deg. F. and baked for 17 minutes.

You can see where I added the extra ranch dressing at the last minute. This tasted great and was super easy to throw together and it was very filling. If you're looking for a comforting dish that has a bit of a kick and is something apart from your normal comfort food, give this a try.

Next time, I'll tell you all about trying to get my office together and the harsh less I learned from procrastinating- it's a doosie! Until next time~ Toodahloo!