2 boneless, skinless whole chicken breasts, cut into 1 in pieces
2 tablespoons of butter
1.5 cups sliced mushrooms
1 small red bell pepper, julienne
1/2 cup sliced green onions
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1.75 cups chicken broth
1 cup light cream or half and half
2 Tablespoons dry sherry
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried theme, crushed
1 package (8 ounces) tricolor corkscrew pasta, cooked, drained
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 cup Italian cheese

Brown chicken in melted butter in large skillet over med-high heat. Add mushrooms; cook and stir until tender. Add red pepper and green onions; cook several minutes; stirring occasionally. Stir in flour and cook several minutes over med. heat until blended. Gradually blend in broth, cream, and sherry. Cook until thickened and smooth, stirring constantly. Stir in salt, pepper, and thyme. Toss with pasta, Parmesan cheese and Parsley. Spoon into 1.5 quart baking dish. Top with shredded cheese. Bake until cheese is melted.

Jenni's notes: I usually leave out the sherry and just add a little more broth. It doesn't seem to make a difference. I also use more cheese. I toss about half a cup in the mix and them top with a cup of cheese. You can use whatever Italian cheese you like. I usually use jack and mozzarella (I know that isn't spelled right!)

A little bonus, if you like cakes.

Italian Cream Cake

2 C. sugar
5 eggs, separated
1/2 C Butter, softened
1/2 shortening
2 C flour, sifted
1 C buttermilk
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. vanilla
1 C coconut
1 C nuts (pecans or walnuts) chopped

Cream margarine, shortening, and sugar. Add egg yolks, beating after each addition. Dissolve soda in buttermilk and add alternating with flour to egg mixture. Add coconut. Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites. Add vanilla. Pour into 3 8 in greased and floured cake pans. Bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool.

Icing:
1/2 C butter
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 lb. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 C nuts, chopped (same kind as cake)
milk to moisten

Mix butter and cheese. Add sugar, vanilla and nuts. Moisten with milk until spreadable.

Jenni's notes: This is an incredible cake and pretty easy to do.

Robin, September 3

I made this last night, since I (practically) had all the ingredients.
I didn't have 3 8" pans, but I did have 2 9", so I used those.  I'd been
planning to make cupcakes with the extra, but declared it to be "not
that much extra" and made it all into the two layers.  It would have
been better not to, but it just made it a little domed in the middle
(since Eric and I were going to be the only ones eating it, I didn't
want to bother to slice off the top.)

When I went to make the icing I realized I didn't have a second package
of cream cheese like I thought I did, so I only used about 5 oz. instead
of 6.  I also discovered I didn't have a full lb. of powdered sugar, so
I just used half a pound, since I don't like things very sweet anyway.

I used the full amount of butter, instead of cutting it back so things
stayed in proportion, because I wanted to have enough icing!

So, using what I had of the icing ingredients, it came out *incredibly*!
I absolutely would not add any more sugar, so anyone else who doesn't
like things overly sweet, think about cutting the sugar in half.  Oh,
and I didn't have to add any milk to make it spreadable.

Right before I added the nuts to the icing, I thought "this is going to
make the icing hard to spread... I really ought just ice it, and then
press the nuts onto the top" but didn't do it.  I should have.

It was/is delicious (I'm about to have a piece for breakfast) and I
highly recommend it.  



Peggy Galbraith, September 3

Robin wrote...
> It would have been better not to, but it just made it a little domed
> in the middle (since Eric and I were going to be the only ones eating
> it, I didn't want to bother to slice off the top.)

Here's my trick for evening up the tops of cakes (also works really well
for slicing a cake evenly down the center, if you're going to use a
filling): use dental floss. With the cake on the counter in front of
you, short side closest to you, pull out a lenth of floss (I always used
waxed) about 18 inches or so, and pull it taught. Position the floss at
the level you want to make the cut, on the short end of the cake
farthest from you, and carefully pull the floss through the cake. If you
use a sort of side-to-side motion as you pull the floss towards you, I
think it works best.

Peggy