Chicken Florentine Casserole*Please help me remake this :)

http://www.bhg.com/recipes/quick-easy/make-ah ead-meals/casserole-recipes/?sssdmh=dm17.3606 39&page=2&esrc=nwwr30_09f&email=1 414478304 Ingredients

• 8  oz. dried bow tie pasta
• 1  small onion, chopped
• 1  Tbsp. butter
• 2  eggs
• 1-1/4  cups milk
• 1  tsp. dried Italian seasoning
• 1/4  to 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper (optional)
• 2  cups chopped cooked chicken
• 2  cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese (8 oz.)
• 1  14-oz. can artichoke hearts, drained and quartered
• 1  10-oz. pkg. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
• 1/2  cup oil-packed dried tomatoes, drained and chopped
• 1/4  cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2  cup soft bread crumbs
• 1/2  tsp. paprika
• 1  Tbsp. butter, melted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cook pasta according to package directions; drain. In medium skillet cook onion in 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat about 5 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; set aside.

2. In bowl whisk together eggs, milk, seasoning, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. black pepper, and crushed red pepper. Stir in chicken, Monterey Jack cheese, artichokes, spinach, tomatoes, half of the Parmesan, cooked pasta, and onion. Transfer to 3-quart rectangular baking dish.

3. Bake, covered, 20 minutes. In small bowl combine remaining Parmesan, bread crumbs, paprika, and melted butter. Sprinkle mixture over pasta. Bake, uncovered, 10 minutes more or until golden. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Nutrition Facts

• Calories 531,
• Total Fat (g) 24,
• Saturated Fat (g) 13,
• Monounsaturated Fat (g) 8,
• Polyunsaturated Fat (g) 2,
• Cholesterol (mg) 163,
• Sodium (mg) 897,
• Carbohydrate (g) 41,
• Total Sugar (g) 6,
• Fiber (g) 5,
• Protein (g) 36,
• Vitamin C (DV%) 25,
• Calcium (DV%) 47,
• Iron (DV%) 26,
• Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet

I was thinking of using soy milk or Almond milk instead of the regular milk but it may make it too runny. Definately wheat pasta but honestly I have not ever seen wheat bow tie pasta have you? Would egg beaters work for this? What kind of lowfat or skim cheese actually melts....does anyone know? OMG the whole half cup of oil packed sun dried tomatoes.............those are really greasy  I wonder if just stewed tomatoes would work. They wouldn't taste as good i'm sure. The butter I'm sure I can use a low cal butter but then what about how some of them have so much water so I dont know if that would work.

You could use flax noodles, not bowties, but they make a bite sized noodle.

You could substitute the butter and eggs for pureed beans either white pinto or black which would also help with the oil from the sundried tomatoes.

I would never have thought of pureed beans. See this is why I love this place. You are wonderful! Thanks :)

pureed white beans sounds good.

Hi!  I did some extra checking, and it seems to me that the nutritional info they give is for 6 servings, which from a 3-quart (9x13) baking dish are huge servings!  The actual recipe itself doesn't seem to bad, and if you change it to be 8 servings, the calories go down to under 400 per.  If this is all your eating for a meal, that's not too bad.

I did do some playing around with the ingredients - Calorie Count has a really awesome spot where you can input new recipes and it will do the calculating for you!  I just kept making subtle changes and kept re-analyzing the recipe till I came to this:

8 oz. whole wheat bow tie pasta
1 small onion, chopped
1 tbsp. butter
1/3 cup egg substitute
1 cups milk
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
2 cups chopped cooked chicken
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese (8 oz.)
14 oz. artichoke hearts, drained and quartered
10 oz. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes, chopped (get the dried ones and soak them in water till they fluff up - then drain - almost half the calories of the oil ones)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup soft bread crumbs
1/2 tsp. paprika
1 tablespoon butter, melted

I changed the servings to 8, and this was the result:

Nutrition Facts Serving Size 245 g
Amount Per Serving Calories 385 Calories from Fat 150 % Daily Value* Total Fat 16.7g 26% Saturated Fat 9.5g 47% Cholesterol 69mg 23% Sodium 468mg 20% Total Carbohydrates 32.5g 11% Dietary Fiber 7.1g 29% Sugars 4.2g Protein 29.6g
Vitamin A 78% • Vitamin C 30% Calcium 40% • Iron 23% Nutrition Grade B+ * Based on a 2000 calorie diet

 

Then, I changed the servings to 10 (still a good size from a 9x13) and with this result:

Nutrition Facts Serving Size 196 g
Amount Per Serving Calories 308 Calories from Fat 120 % Daily Value* Total Fat 13.4g 21% Saturated Fat 7.6g 38% Cholesterol 55mg 18% Sodium 374mg 16% Total Carbohydrates 26.0g 9% Dietary Fiber 5.7g 23% Sugars 3.4g Protein 23.7g
Vitamin A 63% • Vitamin C 24% Calcium 32% • Iron 19% Nutrition Grade B+ * Based on a 2000 calorie diet

 

I hope that helps - I think I'll be making this soon!

I use the beans as a sub in muffins a lot and they come out great.

loudflower...........yes I was aware of the CC recipe converter/maker but I was just unsure what I should substitute to make it all work and not too runny.

Wow! That is quite a reduction in calories and fat. Thanks so much :) I can't wait to make this.

smwhipple; beans in muffins really? Who would have thought. Maybe I will get the nerve to try it one day.

Google black bean brownies.  They're really good!

Okay you peaked my curiosity. When i'm past my wanting to binge stage I will make some and try them. Heck if I don't like them I have two neighbor boys that would eat anything lol.

From all the reviews though it seems they are okay. I like what someone said too about making them with pumpkin.

I make pumpkin muffins with the white pinto beans...both are really good and pretty darn easy.  If you buy the silicone mini muffin tins (ebay) you can make your own bite sized ones and they freeze really well.  It's hard to over eat them when they're frozen.  It takes pre-planning by a few hours to defrost them so if you just do 1-4 at a time they're very reasonable ~40 calories each with fiber and protein.  Can you tell I love them?

http://caloriecount.about.com/black-bean-brow nies-recipe-r37322

 

oooohhh you all are making my mouth water lol. It's okay i'm not binging tonight. I ate pretzles and drank tea and just dealing with it. But those look good too

Thanks

Just a thought, but you could maybe find bulk sun dried tomatoes instead of those packed in oil. That way, you still get the sundried flavor but you will have much less fat! Let us know what you end up doing and how it comes out! It sounds great :)

Ronzoni makes whole wheat spiral noodles. I would use those, but I'm one of those people that refuses to use spaghetti noodles for spaghetti. I would rather use the smaller, less messy noodles. Screw the rules!

just make little changes...like light cheese or less butter and you won't even notice but the calories will go down a bit...

also like someone else said, just have a smaller serving and a big salad on the side.

 

we have this family recipe for a pasta dish i love but it has a LOT of butter in it...i used a fraction of what is called for in the recipe and mine was JUST AS GOOD.  you'll be fine!

Just thought of one more substitution - try switching out the bread crumbs for crushed up Fiber One cereal - I think it will be about half the calories and fat of the bread crumbs, plus only a quarter of the sodium!

It'll probably take 1 whole cup precrushed cereal to make a 1/2 cup of crumbs.

I thought of that too. Sounds good to me thanks :)

I find that skin milk "mozza" and "cheddar" melt very nicely, just don't expect them to brown, but taste-wise I would just cut back the cheese a bit and use low-fat cheddar instead.

I was also going to suggest using sundried tomatoes sold dry instead of packed in oil...I have some, you just rehydrate in some hot water.

My Safeway has whole wheat bow-tie pasta...notsure what brand it is.

For the milk, I would use skim with some evaporated skim milk or skim milk powder, or just use 1%.

Yes you could totally use egg  sub in this.

It sounds delish!

Oh cool beans :) Thanks Victoriagirl. I had no idea they sold sun dried tomatoes without oil. Where do you get those?

Okay Safeway and Vons are the same stores and I have Vons here so I should be able to find those. Maybe they were just out the day I was looking for wheat pasta.

Thanks for the cheese and milk tips too.

Well I got mine in Italy, so that's not much help, but I am sure they have them here too...anyone?

I had mentioned them too. I just found them in bulk in the produce section of my grocery store. Maybe towards the organic stuff? You could always ask :)

jellyfish...thanks hon. Yes i'm sorry I did see that you mentioned the sun dried tomatoes but in my mind was thinking i've never seen them in the store before so thought my store didn't carry them. I bet you are right though I bet there in there somewhere and yes I will ask. :) Thanks