Spicy Chicken Pasta Recipe

James' best friend Chris had posted this picture of these great looking pasta one day on facebook. I inquired and this is what he sent me! It's really delicious and according to James- one of his top dishes. You can use whatever meat you want, I've used just chicken and actually last night I used no meat and added vegetables instead. It's super easy and so delicious!! 

Ingredients
1-ounce olive oil
4 hot links, all beef, cut in 6 bias slices
20 (21/25 shrimp), deveined, shelled and butterflied
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup Chipotle Sauce, recipe follows
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 pound cooked penne pasta
1/2 cup Parmesan, grated plus more for serving
1 tablespoon diced Roma tomato
1 tablespoon diced scallion

Directions
In saute pan over high heat, add olive oil and hot links. Sear links until browned. Add the shrimp and cook until pink. Lower heat to medium. Then add cream, 3/4 of the Chipotle Sauce, salt and pepper. Add cooked pasta and the cheese. Toss to combine.

Serve in pasta bowl and garnish with diced tomato, scallions, more sauce, if desired, and grated Parmesan.

Chipotle Sauce:

1 1/2 cups BBQ sauce

3/4 cup canola oil

1/3 cup lemon juice

3/4-ounce Dijon mustard

1 to 2 chipotle peppers in adobo

3/4-ounce red chili flakes

1/3 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/3 teaspoon ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients in blender, puree, cover and refrigerate.

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/guys-big-bite-/penne-with-cajun-hot-links-and-chipotle-shrimp-recipe/index.html?oc=linkback

Recipe- Chicken Tortilla Soup

Hey everyone! It's currently 5:45 am and I'm writing the blog post. I can't sleep well these days and I'm not sure if it's the end of pregnancy insomnia people talk about or the people upstairs making too much noise or the uncomfortable small bed we're sleeping in.  Maybe a combo :)

I'm 36 weeks pregnant today! Less than one month to go. I wish she'd get here, at least I'd have something to do right now, even though at that point I'll be wanting sleep. Anyway, I thought I would put a recipe up of a favorite meal from last week that I made. I found it on pinterest again. I've been making a lot of soup, nope not because it's been cool (it's still 90s) but because it lasts a couple days. It turns out it's good for you too. It's "skinny" chicken tortilla soup from here. I did not bring my crock pot here so I just did it on the stove for a couple hours. This lady does hot enchilada sauce, I did medium and it was PLENTY hot, like run your noise. I also used a rotisserie chicken to get the chicken for the soup (super easy).

Here are the ingredients:

1 pound shredded, cooked chicken

1 (15 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, mashed

1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce (I used hot to give it a kick) medium was plenty for me

1 medium onion, chopped

1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers

2 gloves garlic, minced

2 cups of water

1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth (I always get reduced sodium)

1 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1 bay leaf

1 (10 ounce) package frozen corn

1 Tbsp. chopped cilantro (and if anyone knows me they know I did NOT put this in)

7 corn tortillas

1 lime

vegetable oil

Bring a pot of water to a boil and boil chicken for 15 minutes.  With cooking shears or a fork, thoroughly shred your chicken and place in slow cooker.  Add tomatoes, enchilada sauce, onion, green chiles and garlic.  Pour in water and chicken broth, and season with cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and bay leaf.  Stir in corn and cilantro.  Cover, and cook on Low setting for 6 to 8 hours or on High setting for 3 to 4 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Lightly brush both sides of tortillas with oil.  Cut tortillas into strips, then spread on baking sheet.  I sprinkled a bit of taco seasoning over tortillas as well to give them a great flavor.  Bake in preheated oven until crisp, about 10 minutes.  To serve, sprinkle tortilla strips over soup and garnish with a lime. 

Here's my dark picture. I forgot to say I added avocados to it and it's a MUST!

Have a great Monday and start to the week!