Dinner From This Weeks Deal: Creamy Rainbow Pasta and Garlic Chicken

Friday, I started a new feature called Dinner With This Weeks Deals.  Well I had so much chicken, that I was able to try out yet another recipe this week, and it was delicious so I thought I would share it with you guys also.

I used this recipe from The Happy 'Lil Homemaker.

Here are the ingredients:

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cubed
3 cloves of garlic, minced
8 ounces, softened cream cheese
8 ounces shredded mozzarella
1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon basil
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 Tablespoons butter
1 box Rainbow corkscrew pasta

Here are the directions:

In a large skillet, melt butter. Add butter, garlic, and basil. sprinkle in your cubed chicken. Reduce heat to medium low, cover and let simmer. Cook pasta according to directions. In a large saucepan, bring broth to a boil. Reduce heat, and slowly mix in cream cheese. Once cream cheese mixture is smooth (It will look runny at this stage), add in your cheese. Stir constantly until cheese is completely melted. Reduce heat to low, and cover. Drain pasta and add to fully cooked chicken. Toss chicken and pasta. Add cream cheese sauce, mixing well. Cover and let simmer for 5 minutes. Sprinkle extra shredded cheese on top and serve.

I did things a little bit differently, because my chicken was already cooked.  Instead of cooking the basil (I used fresh off my plant) and garlic with the chicken, I added them in with the sauce.  I also tossed in some leftover peas from last night in the end, just to have some veggies. ;)

This was delicious!  My girls ate it with no complaints, and my husband loved it!

Here is the breakdown of what it cost me, based on this weeks meat prices:

1lb chicken @  $0.99/lb = $0.99

Garlic (I used a spoon of minced from a jar)  

8oz Cream Cheese  (I had one in my freezer I had gotten FREE with coupons)

8 oz Shredded Mozzarella =$0.99 (I found these at the 99cents only store, but they are imitation cheese)

1 cup chicken broth  (I had a carton in the pantry, 1/4 of it = $0.30ish)

Basil--picked a few leaves from my plant=FREE

Seasonings (had on hand)

Butter (left out because my chicken was pre-cooked)

Pasta-1 bag of Wacky Mac that I *think* was FREE with coupon.

Peas, half a bag leftover from last night's dinner  = $0.48

Grand Total for this meal:  $2.76  (I estimate around $7 without sales/coupons, which still isn't too bad to feed a family of 4!)

I've really been trying to keep things in perspective by thinking about how little food that amount could purchase at a restaurant or fast food chain.  It's pretty astonishing to think about!