Baked Chicken Rotini

I wanted to make something fast, easy and filling for dinner tonight that used things we already had in the house. We had rotini and sauce. Normally that would be enough but I wanted meat, too. Thus the idea for baked chicken rotini was formed and a quick trip to the Internet gave me a basic recipe that I, naturally, expanded on. I only had Italian sausage with garlic pasta sauce so it was meatier than intended but that was not a problem for us. And, I used some scallions fresh from the container garden. We served it with fresh steamed broccoli and pull-apart garlic bread.

Ingredients:
1 lb. chicken (cooked or uncooked)
1 lb. rotini
1 16 oz. jar of pasta sauce
1 16 oz. bag of mozzarella cheese
Vegetable oil
Scallions
Garlic
Italian spices
Pepper and salt

Directions:

1) Heat the oven to 350F.  

2) If you're using raw chicken, cut it up into bite-size pieces and cook in the vegetable oil with the diced scallions, garlic, Italian spices, pepper and salt. The spices should be to taste. It is done when there's no more pink and everything is lightly browned.

3) While the chicken is cooking, start the pasta and cook it until it is al dente. Drain.

4) When the chicken and pasta are done, put them in a 13x9x2-inch pan. Mix with the sauce and 2/3 of the mozzarella cheese.

5) Cover the mixture with the remaining mozzarella cheese.

6) Bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and lightly browned.

If you try the recipe, let me know what you think of it in the comments!