Chicken Farfalle Casserole

Total Time: 1 hr Preparation Time: 40 mins Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 2
• 2 cups nonfat dry milk powder
• 3 1/2 cups water
• 1 (1 1/2 ounce) envelope knorr vegetable soup mix
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 8 tablespoons butter (divided into two parts) or 8 tablespoons margarine (divided into two parts)
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 (8 ounce) package of room temperature cream cheese (softened)
• 8 ounces sour cream
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (for mushrooms & onions)
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper (for mushrooms & onions)
• 1 (10 ounce) package of fresh frozen chopped spinach (thawed and squeezed dry)
• 1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese
• 6 ounces portabella mushrooms (coarsely chopped)
• 1 1/2 cups yellow onions, coarsely chopped
• 3 cups cooked chicken (cut in bite sized chunks)
• 1/2 cup roasted unsalted cashew pieces
• 3 cups cooked farfalle pasta (aka bowtie pasta)
• 1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup roasted unsalted cashew pieces
• 1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika

Recipe

• 1 cream the cream cheese and the sour cream together in a bowl and set aside.
• 2 in a large bowl blend the 2 cups of nonfat powdered milk with the 3 ½ cups of water.
• 3 add the envelope of knorr vegetable soup mix, the 1 teaspoon of salt and the 1 teaspoon of pepper to the milk and set aside.
• 4 it is important to allow the dry soup mix time to reconstitute a little while you are preparing the other ingredients.
• 5 heat the olive oil and 4 tablespoons of the butter or margarine in a large skillet or wok.
• 6 sauté the mushrooms & onions in this with the ½ teaspoons of salt and pepper until the mushrooms are slightly browned.
• 7 remove the mushrooms & onions from the pan with a slotted spoon and drain them on a plate lined with several layers of paper towels.
• 8 add the other 4 tablespoons of butter or margarine to the drippings of the pan.
• 9 when melted, stir in the 3 tablespoons of flour and stir while cooking for about 1 minute.
• 10 turn down the heat to medium low.
• 11 slowly add the milk/soup mixture and the parmesan cheese to the butter/flour mixture in the pan, stirring while simmering until the mixture starts to thicken to about a medium thin sauce.
• 12 turn off the heat and let sauce cool slightly.
• 13 add a small amount of the hot sauce to the cream cheese/sour cream mixture stirring well.
• 14 add all the cream cheese/sour cream mixture to the hot sauce and blend well.
• 15 add the mushrooms & onions to the sauce and blend.
• 16 add the spinach, chicken and cashews to the sauce.
• 17 turn the burner on very low to keep warm while cooking the pasta.
• 18 cook the farfelle pasta for about 13 minutes in about 2 quarts of hot boiling water.
• 19 drain the pasta and then add the hot pasta to the hot vegetable sauce.
• 20 pour all of the ingredients into a greased 13 x 9 baking dish/pan.
• 21 mix the topping ingredients together in a small bowl.
• 22 sprinkle the topping evenly over the casserole.
• 23 bake 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
• 24 serve & enjoy.