This Chicken and Bacon Pasta Bake is sure to be an instant hit with the entire family. 

Serves: 6

Recipe from ‘Symply Too Good To Be True- Book 7′

Ingredients

• 1½ cups raw macaroni
• 1 bunch asparagus
• Cooking spray
• 90g short cut bacon, diced
• 400g skinless chicken breast, diced
• 1½ cups carrots, diced
• 1 teaspoon crushed garlic (in jar)
• ¼ cup water
• ¾ cup onion, diced
• 2 cups mushrooms cut in quarters
• 1 x 375ml can evaporated light milk
• 2 x sachets cream of chicken cup-a-soup (Continental®)
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• ¼ teaspoon cracked black pepper
• 1 teaspoon cornflour
• 1 cup skim milk
• ½ cup 25% reduced-fat tasty cheese freshly grated

Method

1. Preheat oven 180ºC fan forced.
2. Cook macaroni as instructed on packet. Leave to one side. Trim about 5cm from thick end of asparagus spears and throw ends away, then cut spears into 3cm pieces and leave to one side.
3. In a large frypan that has been coated with cooking spray, brown bacon pieces. Remove into a medium size bowl.
4. Coat frypan with cooking spray then brown diced chicken, place into bowl with bacon and leave to one side. Sauté carrots and garlic in frypan, add water and cook 3 minutes. Add onion and cook a further 2 minutes. Toss in mushrooms and cook for another 2 minutes.
5. Place bacon and chicken back into pan then pour in evaporated milk. Combine soup mix, oregano, pepper and cornflour with skim milk in a small bowl then pour into pan. Stir frequently until boiled.
6. Add cooked pasta to pan and fold together well. Toss asparagus through mix then pour into a large lasagne dish that has been coated with cooking spray. Level mixture then sprinkle cheese over top. Bake 30 minutes.

Variation:

Replace asparagus with either ¾ cup frozen peas or ¾ cup green capsicum diced.

Suitable to be frozen for 2-3 weeks.

Dietitian’s Tip: Asparagus is packed with antioxidants, ranking it among the top fruits and vegetables for its ability to neutralise cell-damaging free radicals. Research suggests that this slows down the ageing process.

Nutritional Information per serve

Annette’s cookbooks SYMPLY TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE 1-7 are sold in all good newsagencies.