Chicken and macaroni

My family ate macaroni, or rather, my brother and I ate macaroni growing up--the Kraft kind. We ate it plain. I had heard that some people put other stuff in their macaroni, but not us.

Today, I cooked again. Here is my second attempt at "macaroni and stuff": Macaroni with chicken and broccoli. (My first "macaroni and stuff" was a recipe from mother-in-law, who called it 'goulash'--mac and cheese with stewed tomatoes and ground beef. Not at all a goulash. More like a Hamburger Helper.)

Mac and Cheddar Cheese with Chicken and Broccoli
The starting point was a Rachel Ray recipe, listed below. But there were lots of substitutions. Enough, I think, to count as a new recipe.

I used frozen dark meat chicken strips instead of chicken breast. These, I sauteed with 1/2 a small chopped onion.

I boiled two boxes of Kraft mac and cheese. For the sauce, I used the cheese powder in the box, and added 1/4 cup of milk and a 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar.

I cut out the butter. I used only the butter that the sauce mix for ONE box of macaroni called for.

My changes are noted in red, below.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan
1 pound chicken breast tenders, chopped
Salt and pepper
1 small onion, chopped 1/2 of small onion, chopped
1 pound macaroni elbows or cavatapi corkscrew shaped pasta twists Two 7.5 oz boxes of mac&cheese
2 1/2 cups raw broccoli florets, available packaged in produce department
3 tablespoons butter 4 Tbs butter (amt for cheese mix of 1 box of mac&cheese)
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
3 cups whole milk 3/4 cups milk (1/4 cup for each of the boxes of mac&cheese, and an additional 1/4 cup)
1 cup chicken stock
3 cups yellow sharp Cheddar 1/2 cup cheddar, 2 powdered cheese packets (from the boxed mac&cheese)
1 tablespoon prepared Dijon mustard


Directions
Place a pot of water on to boil for macaroni.

Heat a medium pan over medium to medium high heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil and chicken and season with salt and pepper. Saute a couple of minutes then add onion and cook another 5 to 7 minutes until onions are tender and chicken is cooked through. Turn off heat and reserve.

To boiling pasta water, add pasta and salt to season the cooking water. Cook 5 minutes, then add broccoli and cook 3 minutes more or until pasta is cooked to al dente and florets are just tender.

While pasta cooks, heat a medium sauce pot over medium heat. Add butter and melt, then add flour, cayenne and paprika and whisk together over heat until roux bubbles then cook a minute more. Whisk in milk and stock and raise heat a little to bring sauce to a quick boil. Simmer sauce to thicken about 5 minutes.

Drain macaroni or pasta and broccoli florets. Add back to pot and add chicken to the pasta and broccoli.

Add cheese to milk sauce and stir to melt it in, about a minute or so. Stir in mustard and season sauce with salt and pepper. Pour sauce over chicken and broccoli and cooked pasta and stir to combine. Adjust seasonings, transfer to a large serving platter and serve.


Found here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/mac-and-cheddar-cheese-with-chicken-and-broccoli-recipe2/index.html
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Changes for next time

1. Use only ONE box of mac and cheese. Too much pasta for my liking with 2 boxes.
2. Decrease spices to 1/4 tsp cayenne and 1/2 tsp paprika.