Chicken Pasta Bake

Chicken Pasta Bake super easy to make & quickish...

All ingredients are optional, switch it up to however you like, this is what I used to make mine!

Pasta Shapes

Garlic

Red onion

Carrots

Peas

Tomatoes

Peppers

Courgettes

Meat from 4 chicken legs

Chicken stock

Mozarella balls (I used 2 as I had a small dish)

190°C for 45 minutes

I baked 4 chicken legs in the oven with salt, pepper & garlic which I marinated over night. I took the skin off but it you want to keep it on for more flavour that's up to you! I baked them in the oven for around 45 minutes. Let them cool down & took the meat off the bone.

You can boil your pasta while your chicken is cooking. You can use any part of a chicken I just prefer meat from the leg or thighs & find chicken breast pretty dry no matter how I cook it. You don't have to bake your chicken you can cook it in the pan with your veg it's really up to you how to you want to make this!

Heat your pan up with some oil & a couple of cloves of garlic. Then throw your onion in. 

Once your onion has softened a bit add your carrots. Leave the lid over it for a couple of minutes then add your courgettes. 

Once they've softened a bit add your peas & peppers. Add your tomatoes last. If you want there to be more sauce you can use a tin of tomato soup or passata. I used 6 fresh tomatoes & just put them in the pan to reduce down. 

Once your tomato looks nothing like tomatos & has turned into a sauce you can add your chicken stock. I just used a stock cube & broke it up. Then added a teaspoon of cornflour mixed into a little bit of cold water to thicken the sauce up. I then added my cooked chicken & pasta. If you're cooking your chicken in a pan you'd do that first before your veg. Don't forget to season with salt & pepper!

Put it all into an oven dish & top with balls of mozarella chopped.

Bake in the oven at 190°C for 45 minutes until you cheese is bubbling.

Sorry this post sounds really vague but when it comes to cooking experiment try different things. Put things in you like, even if you don't like to make yourself learn to like! There are no rules or dead recipes that you have to follow strictly it's all about learning & experimenting to make things how you want!

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Notts

Spent the weekend in Nottingham to visit Holly. Went down late Friday night & came back this evening. It was so nice to catch up with finally get to see her flat & her flat mates.

Spent the day yesterday shopping with Holly's flat mate Becky & friend who was on her course that lives round the corner Laarnia. We went to the vintage kilo sale.

Entry is £1.50, you get given a clear plastic bag then you're left to rummage through. It's £15 per kilo. Laarnia got a denim jacket which was just over a kilo but it was caped at £15 which wasn't bad. We didn't find anything but that's mainly because we cba rummaging.

Holly's flat mate Becky is the kind of person I wish I was - a walking Zara mannequin! Her wardrobe is basically Zara, she walks in & if she sees something she likes she'll just buy it without trying or caring about the price tag! I wish I was like that! Where she gets the money from I don't know it's crazy she has that much clothes that she hasn't even worn most of it & her shoe collection looks like I've just walked into Zara's stock room!

We went for lunch at Dolcino a gelato bar. You can try the gelato's before you choose which one you want & I couldn't decide what I wanted & tried about 5 different flavours before deciding on pistachio with a plain waffle.

I love love love waffles! It does look super plain but that's how I like it - it was so good!

Becky got the banoffee crepe & Holly just got gelato.

Cute little alleyway.

Really liked this styling in H&M. Don't like the t-shirt but I like how it's been put together.

We did a bit more shopping around & went to Inferno for dinner. It's like Subway but pizza. You choose your base sauce, veg, meat & seasoning. 

I got bbq sauce, shredded mozzarella, red & yellow peppers, sun dried tomatoes,  red onions, spinach, grille courgette, pineapple - yes pineapple should go on pizza! Grilled chicken, bacon, pulled pork with pesto drizzled on top. I guess if you wanted you could have every topping they have on offer.

It was good but so messy, I had bbq sauce dripping all down my arm. Plate wasn't big enough & the base was really thin. I couldn't even eat it all ended up leaving a slice & just picking out all the toppings. For £8.75 it's not bad but I still think Crust on Bold Street is the best pizza I've had & I'm surprised Liverpool hasn't got one of these make your own pizzas. Independent Liverpool sort it out!

We were gonna go out for drinks but by the time we got back we were too tired. We left at 12 & didn't get back to the flat till half 7. We ended up staying in & watching Keeping up with the Joneses which was funny.

Sunday

Weather was so nice today, sunglasses & bare legged compared to yesterday - cold & windy. I had to borrow one of Holly's coats cos I only brought my leather jacket. We went for a walk around town then went to Canalhouse Bar for lunch & drinks down by the canal. Perfect beer garden weather.

First time trying a panini - bbq chicken & cheese not my kind of food but having a fat weekend. 

Back to reality tomorrow back to boring day job :( Lonely 2 & half hour train back which was packed.

It was nice to by away from Liverpool, as much as I love it you just want to get away & see somewhere else, need a change of scenery. I need a holiday so bad & it's killing me knowing my family are going to China a week tomorrow & leaving me for 3 weeks while I have to go to work! Hopefully have somewhere booked soon.

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