Comforting Traditions

With 7 days to go, our apartment has been a whirlwind. Tomorrow we're leaving to go to our hometown and start prepping for the arrival of family and the wedding itself. This will probably be the most stressful trip to pack for in our lives. We're leaving our comfortable apartment in North Texas for two weeks to get married and go on our honeymoon. Very intimidating.

But we are ending our "single" lives in this apartment in a kind of cute way. We first moved in together in May of 2009 and on of the most exciting memories was the first meal I ever cooked for the both of us in that apartment. Truth-be-told it was a pretty random recipe from a Kraft magazine with a lame title. Much to my relief though, the meal turned out great. *You have no idea how nervous I was cooking it*

We renamed the dish "First Night Pasta" and that is what we are having for dinner tonight. It's just a little way to commemorate starting a new chapter in our life.

I thought I'd share the recipe with you. Bear with me because the physical recipe is long gone and I do most of it by eye now, but it is super yummy!

First Night Pasta

• 1 1/2 cups rigatoni pasta
• approx 2 cups fresh broccoli
• chicken cut into small pieces (I usually use half the container of breast tenderloins)
• approx. 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 3 oz. cream cheese
• 1/2 c. mozzarella cheese
  
  1. Preheat over to 350. Prepare pasta as instructed on package. Add broccoli about 3 months prior to pasta being al-dente.
  2. In a small sauce pan, prepare chicken until cooked through. Turn heat down to simmer. Add chicken broth, cream cheese, and mozzarella cheese. Stir until melted.
  3. Drain pasta and broccoli. Add chicken and sauce and stir until thoroughly mixed.
  4. Pour into casserole dish and sprinkle with Italian bread crumbs and a little mozzarella cheese. Bake at 350F for about 15 minutes.

Enjoy!!!