Cooking Challenge- PW's Cajun Chicken Pasta

So today marked my new culinary adventure.  I've hit a sort of a creative block when it was coming to making meals for my family.  I had fallen out of habit of planning meals {I usually planned two weeks at a time}and was anxious to get back to it.  It's alot easier to do something when you're organized about it.

That's when I decided to do sort of a theme for the next two weeks.  I would pick one thing & run for it.  I did something like this over the summer when my garden of 1 zucchini plant was spewing out produce like there was no tomorrow.  We had two weeks of meals were zucchini was in something.  It was kinda fun.

I've been reading the Pioneer Women's blog, and decided that her recipes would be my theme for my adventure.  My mother-in-law had her cookbook {which I borrowed}; so I picked recipes from that & then went online and picked up some more.

Tonight's recipe:  Cajun Chicken Pasta.  I liked the sound of the spices and all the vegetables that were to be used in the recipe.

 The dinner was easy enough to make.  I loved the smell of the peppers & onions cooking.  I decided to cook up some penne pasta, instead of a noodle......it just makes it easier to eat for the kiddos.

 My only downfall......my sauce never thickened up.  It was kinda like soupy pasta.  And as my husband reminded me-after he had looked at the recipe-there was no thickening agent.  When I make this again, I would probably throw the Cajun spices in with some flour, so that when I cook the chicken up, the flour stays in the pan; then when I deglaze, the flour works to make a roux.

 Either way, dinner was delicious.  Delicious enough that my daughter scarfed down at least five bowls of this stuff.  She inhaled the food...I swear.  I couldn't help but go get her more when she would push her bowl towards me and sign "more".

Again, I tried to work on my photog skills; but alas, my lighting is lousy.

If you would like to get this recipe & try it out for yourself, go here to get it:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/04/cajun-chicken-pasta/
{sorry the linking tool wasn't working}

Enjoy!