Cajun Chicken Pasta A La Laura Walton

This is one of my favorite recipes of all times. OF ALL TIMES! My good friend Laura had us over for dinner last fall and served this wonderful meal! It is amazing! She and her husband are FANTASTIC cooks. I wish we could eat every meal at their house! I can't take credit for this recipe, but I wanted to post it because I know it's so great other people will want to try it! You can substitute shrimp for chicken if you wanted.

I love pasta dishes and this one is one that I can't wait to have on our monthly rotation. I would eat this every week if I could! I know it's good because Tony sits silently scarfing his plate until he gets up and scoops another plate full and sits back down again and eats. His first comment every time we have this when he takes his first bite is "I LOVE this recipe." It's even better the second day for leftovers.

Ok, enough praising. Let's get to the good stuff.

Ingredients:

• 1 box penne pasta (I use Dreamfields because it's suppose to break down better in your system and not be so hard on your blood sugar)
• 2 chicken breasts (sliced into thin strips)
• 1 link of Andouille sausage thinly sliced (I had to ask Laura how you even pronounce this, but it's a cajun sausage)
• 2 tsp. Cajun seasoning (see picture below for idea)
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 green bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 green onion, minced
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream (so, so worth it!)
• 1 tsp. dried basil
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp. lemon pepper
• ground black pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup shredded Italian cheese blend
• 2 tbsp. grated parm. cheese (sometimes I leave this out or I just use bagged shredded parmesan)

HEB sells the Adam's Reserve line of spices usually near the area they test recipes. I have a love/dislike relationship with this line because they're SO great, but SO pricey. I paid $6.99 for this jar but I've made this recipe probably 6 times with it and still have this much left, so it does last a long time. I will continue to buy the cajun seasoning from this line, but all others I'm not so tied to.

Directions:

Cook pasta to al dente. Place chicken and cajun seasoning in a bowl, toss to coat. In a large skillet, over medium heat, add in olive oil. Then add in green and red bell peppers and onion and cook until soft (lacking the right word here!). Remove peppers and saute chicken and sausage in olive oil for 5-7 minutes (or cook on grill). Once chicken is cooked, add back in peppers as well as cooked pasta and reduce heat and stir in heavy cream. Season sauce with all the spices, heat through. Add Italian cheese blend and simmer. When finished, you can add 1-2 tsp. more of the cajun seasoning.

ENJOY!