Three Cheese Chicken Florentine

Chicken was on sale at the local grocery store so I stocked up. I mean when you can get boneless skinless chicken breasts for 60% off, its time to clear out the deep freeze and make room. This time around though, I searched through the chicken containers so I got packages of 4 breasts, instead of 3 ginormous breasts. I mean, when there are 2 people in the house, how is 4 chicken breasts gonna work out?

Anyway, I'll be making a lot of chicken dishes b/c I am now boycotting the grocery store. I go through this every once in awhile. This time, the grocery store not only got me on the chicken sale, but the baking sale. I could bake until the middle of 2009 and still not use all the chocolate chips/bark I purchased.

This dish was delicious! I know it says Cooking Light but I may have used some heavy whipping cream with my milk.

Three-Cheese Chicken Penne Florentine
Cooking Light
Ingredients
1 teaspoon olive oil
Cooking spray
3 cups thinly sliced mushrooms
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
3 cups chopped fresh spinach
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 (16-ounce) carton 2% low-fat cottage cheese
4 cups hot cooked penne (about 8 ounces uncooked tube-shaped pasta)
2 cups shredded roasted skinless, boneless chicken breast
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese, divided
1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese, divided
1/2 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
1 (10 3/4-ounce) can condensed reduced-fat, reduced-sodium cream of chicken soup, undiluted
Preparation

Preheat oven to 425°.

Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms, onion, and bell pepper; sauté 4 minutes or until tender. Add spinach, oregano, and black pepper; sauté 3 minutes or just until spinach wilts.

Place cottage cheese in a food processor; process until very smooth. Combine spinach mixture, cottage cheese, pasta, chicken, 3/4 cup cheddar cheese, 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, milk, and soup in a large bowl. Spoon mixture into a 2-quart baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup cheddar cheese and remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Bake at 425° for 25 minutes or until lightly browned and bubbly.

My changes: I omitted the red pepper. The Hubs and I don't really care for it. I used whole wheat penne pasta, 1/4 cup of milk, 1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream & regular cream of chicken soup. The texture was wonderfully creamy, it tasted a lot like an alfredo sauce. I am sure it would have tasted just as good had I followed the healthy recipe options. Also, this made a ton of food. I would say about 8-9 servings so plan for leftovers.