Welcome + Stuffed Chicken Shells Casserole

I first decided that I wanted to stop living on just Ramen Noodles and Macaroni & Cheese around my second semester of college. It was sickening and tiring to always have to wake up and wonder, "Hmm..what flavor of noodles today?" Besides that, it just isn't healthy to live on food like that, especially for young adults that are in college, running on little sleep, and exposed to ridiculous illnesses that everyone is catching. I've always just sort of thrown ingredients together and hoped it turned out well, but I've recently gotten a hold on what is good when put together and what isn't. Here on my blog, you will find all new, never-seen-before recipes as well as variations on some of your old favorites. I truly do hope that you like my dishes, and if not, there is always room for feedback! I've not yet perfected any of these recipes and changes can always be made based on suggestions from people like all of you!

With that being said, I would like to give you my first recipe:


Stuffed Chicken Shells Casserole

This casserole isn't necessarily the quickest meal to cook, but it has quickly become one of my favorites.

You will need:

3 boneless chicken breasts (2 of they are large)
1 package of Lipton chicken flavored rice
1 package of chicken flavored stuffing
1 box of jumbo shell noodles
2 jars of your favorite brand of Alfredo sauce
1 package of your favorite brand of provolone and/or mozzarella cheese
1 aluminum casserole pan

Cooking instructions:

1.) Start out by either baking or boiling your chicken breasts (whichever you choose, though I find boiling to be faster). Once the chicken is done, let it cool, then shred it into small pieces. Think of something along the lines of chicken shredded for chicken salad. Set it aside.

2.) Preheat your oven to around 350 degrees. Depending your oven, you can go between 325 and 375. Never go over or under, unless, for some reason, your oven is extremely high powered.

3.) Boil the jumbo shell noodles and set aside. Cook both the chicken flavored rice and the chicken flavored stuffing according to the instructions on both packages. After both are done, mix them together in a LARGE mixing bowl (I say large, because the ingredients tend to overflow in just a medium bowl). Add in shredded chicken and mix all well.

4.) Take one of the jars of Alfredo sauce and pour into the rice/stuffing/chicken mixture and then mix well. Use the second jar of Alfredo sauce to coat the bottom of the aluminum casserole dish.

5.) Take your boiled jumbo shell noodles one-by-one and fill them with the rice/stuffing/chicken/Alfredo mixture, setting them into the casserole dish, over the Alfredo sauce in the bottom. Do this until you run out of shells. KEEP THE LEFT OVER MIXTURE.

6.) Once your pan is full, or you've run out of shells, cover the top of the the stuffed shell mixture with your slices of provolone and/or mozzarella cheese. Cover the pan with aluminum foil.

7.) Place the casserole into the oven and back for approximately 8 to 10 minutes, or until the cheese on top is bubbly and stringy.

8.) Serve and enjoy! =) This should serve between 3 and 4 people, depending on how big you would like your serving sizes to be. We like our portions to be rather large, around 4 or 5 shells a person; but some people like only 2 shells.

A great alternative to jumbo shell noodles are just medium shells, like the kind used in macaroni and cheese shells. Instead of filling the shells with the mixture, you can mix the smaller shells into the mixture itself and then spread it into the pan over the Alfredo sauce. Place cheese on top and bake as normal! =)

I hope you enjoy!