Quick Chicken Cacciatore

This was a quick and easy recipe that had the kids eating in just over 30 minutes.  The secret trick here is using frozen chicken nuggets.  This recipe is based on the Pampered Chef recipe in the Main Dishes book.  It falls under the Weekly Express menu on page 21.

Rather than using pasta for myself - I microwaved spaghetti squash.

Let's Get Crafty!
Preheat the oven to 425
Start some water for the pasta (throw a lid on it to get it up to a boil faster)

Start softening the onions:
1 tablespoon EVOO
1 onion, diced extra small
Cook on medium heat for a few minutes.  Add a couple cloves of garlic in the last minute if you would like.  We do because we all really like garlic.  Depending on the brand and type of tomatoes you get - there will usually be some garlic already in it.

Add to the onions to get the sauce simmering:
2 cans Italian seasoned tomatoes, pureed
1 medium green bell pepper, sliced into sticks
5 mushrooms, sliced (about 1 cup)
Simmer for about 10 minutes on medium low to low

1 lb pasta
The spaghetti was ready to go into the pot while the sauce was simmering.  We've been doing a combination of regular barilla pasta and veggie barilla.  This time I did half of each and it went over with my husband and the kids really well.

20 chicken nuggets
Also while sauce is simmering the chicken nuggets were ready to go in the oven.  Bake according to directions until nice and crispy.

The original recipe incorporates partially thawed chicken patties in the sauce to warm up.  I like to bake chicken nuggets in the oven to keep them crispy and then stir them into the sauce at the very end so they are still a little crispy.

Thanks for stopping!