Chicken and Spinach Pasta Bake

I came across this recipe and thought it looked amazing. Guess what? I was right!!! This is total comfort food. You can justify it being healthy by considering the fact that it contains all the food groups! Joe and I ended up eating almost half of the casserole just for dinner. We couldn't stop going back for more. I made a few adjustments from the original recipe that I found, but it still turned out awesome. You can have fun with the chicken to pasta ratio. Next time I think I will add more chicken to mine. My stomach is gurgling while typing this!

Here's what you need:

2 or 3 cooked chicken breasts, cubed

4 or 5 handfuls of whole wheat rigatoni

10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed

8 oz chive and onion cream cheese

1 can (14 oz) of Italian style diced tomatoes, do not drain

shredded mozzarella cheese

salt and pepper

 Preheat oven to 375. Cook the pasta according to directions. Combine in a large bowl cubed chicken, throughly drained spinach, cream cheese, can of tomatoes (do not drain), and the pasta (cooked and drained). Add a few dashes of salt and pepper to taste and stir it all up until consistent. Grease a 9 x 12in casserole dish and pour in the mixture from the bowl. Top casserole with shredded mozzarella cheese and cover with tinfoil. Bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove cover and bake for an additional 15 minutes or until bubbly. 

**The original recipe called for onions: About one cup of chopped onions, cook in the casserole dish on 375 for about 15 minutes with olive oil, then combine the onions with the rest of the ingredients in the bowl.

**I think one of the secrets to success was the cooked chicken. I baked two chicken breasts, coated in olive oil, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Bake on 350 for 15 minutes on each side or until no longer pink in the middle.