And I'm back in the game!

If you have ever seen the movie, 10 Things I Hate About You, you might be familiar with the title of this post.  It's a quote from the movie.  If you haven't...stop reading and go watch the movie.  It is a necessity for any person who ever lived to see the 90's.  I pretty much have the movie memorized since it was watched at every single slumber party, that and A Knights Tale.  Oh Heath Ledger... anyways I digress, but I did find something to do tonight! HA

I am back in the game, because I am no longer just eating hummus for lunch and grilling some veggies, putting it on some bread with some extra greens and sweet potato fries on the side and calling it a meal.  No!  Instead I have a breakfast cookie..yes please (recipe coming soon)! with some hummus for lunch (it's a staple in my diet I must confess so easy to take to the school and eat quickly!) and then a casserole or new dish for the evening. 

With that being said let's check out the dish for the first part of this week.  I was reading another blog (surprised?) and they were talking about how they loved to go out to eat at the mall food court with friends when they were younger.  Of course those were also the years when you ate something and for some people it would shed right off you due to the athletics or on-the-go constantly life of high school.  However, those foods...not so good for you.  I know, a real shocker there people.  Anyways she came up with a dish to mimic a dish from Sbarro, a Baked Ziti dish.  Hers was changed a bit to meet the needs of her kitchen as was mine.  Why do I have soo many kinds of pasta but no Bow Tie or Penne noodles?

 
  Why I find the need to have angle hair pasta as well as spaghetti noodles I will never know...occupy space I suppose. 

Anyways so mine is Rigatoni Cheesy Pasta Bake.  Note this is also the debut of me going on my own to make a dish, this should be marked in history I swear but who cares...I see a lot more of this in my future! (If this is your first time reading, I am my mother's daughter, I love to cook, bake and spend lots of time in the kitchen working on perfecting dishes that as my Dad says were perfected  a long time ago and we should just stick to the original....Super Mom and I agree, that would be no fun at all!)

Rigatoni Cheesy Pasta Bake

6- 8 oz. Rigatoni Pasta- Half a box of some pasta
1-2 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
Garlic Salt
Pepper
1 1/2 c. mozzarella cheese
1/2 jar marinara sauce

Boil pasta until soft, drain.  Season chicken breasts with garlic salt and pepper and cook in a skillet.  After preparing the pasta and chicken, in a mixing bowl combine pasta, chicken, 1 c. mozzarella cheese and 1/2 jar of marinara sauce.  Stir.  Spray an 8x8 pan or a medium sized casserole dish with non stick cooking spray and add the mixture.  Top with remaining  1/2 c. mozzarella cheese.  Bake for 20 min. at 400 degrees or until heated through. 

So there you have it!  It was mighty cheesy and pretty good.  However, not perfect yet...next time I see a can of green chillies in dish's future.  Hmmm...Maybe I will add some when I re-heat to eat this week...

The story behind the dish.  I had a 1/2 jar of marinara sauce left over.  My freezer is too full, aka things come sliding out at me when I open it, so one bag of cheese and a frozen chicken breast just had to go and my cupboard is being taken over by pasta.  Add all that to some blog reading and you get....RIGATONI CHEESY PASTA BAKE.  Until next time folks!