Creamy Garlic Chicken

You know when it is 5 o'clock and you have no clue what you are going to make for dinner? So you open your fridge and decide you can throw together something eatable out of the random things in there. That is pretty much what I did here, but it turned out so good that I figured I'd better record what I did so I could make it again sometime in the future, because my kids couldn't get enough of it!

Creamy Garlic Chicken

Chicken mixture:                           
  -2 cloves of garlic, minced            
  -1 medium onion, diced                
  -1 bell pepper, diced                            
  -1 large tomato, diced                  
  -1 chicken breast, diced              
  -1 tsp Italian seasoning
  -2 tbsp olive oil

Garlic Sauce:
   -1/2 c butter
   -2 cloves of garlic, minced
   -1 tbsp flour
   -1 c milk
   -salt and pepper, to taste

-Pasta of choice

-Saute chicken with the olive oil and seasoning. Add the vegetables and cook until they reach desired tenderness.

-In a sauce pan, melt the butter with the garlic. Whisk in the flour and cook for a few minutes, until thick. Whisk in the milk until smooth and cook over medium heat until the flour is fully cooked. Add salt and pepper to taste and pour over the chicken mixture, and continue to simmer over medium low heat for 5-10 minutes while your pasta cooks.

-Bring water to a boil and add pasta. Cook until pasta is tender. Drain.

Plate pasta and spoon on desired amount of chicken garlic sauce. Enjoy!

Quick and Easy Tomato Soup

Yesterday was hot and I didn't especially feel like cooking because my husband is out of town. That and cooking just for kids can be a real pain, especially picky eaters. So about half an hour after our regular dinner time, I finally decided to throw together some grilled cheese sandwiches. I like to eat my grilled cheese with tomato soup, but since I don't have any canned soup I had to make my own. The following recipe is what I came up with. Nothing fancy, but it's easy, fast and my kids actually ate it...well first they complained about how yucky it was...until they tasted it, then it didn't take too long to disappear.
You can definitely enhance the soup by using fresh chopped, garlic, and basil, but for a decent meal in under 10 minutes, the dried spices worked just fine.

Simple Cream of Tomato Soup

-1 can of diced Tomatoes
-1/4 C cream or milk
-1 tsp garlic powder (or minced garlic)
-2 tsp onion powder (or diced onions)
-basil to taste
-salt and pepper to taste
-1 bay leaf (to be removed before serving)

-Mix everything together and bring to a boil. Simmer on low heat until you are ready to serve.
-If you don't like chunky tomato soup, you can blend your ingredients before heating, or use tomato sauce instead of the diced tomatoes.