Fall is officially here which means saying hello to crockpots and easy oven meals! I wanted to share this meal that is super easy and convenient to make (read: you can make most of it ahead of time)

Most importantly, this is kid and family friendly.

Now, before I get into the recipe, I want to let you all know that…YES. I do eat this with my family. I feel like sometimes there is a misconception that I only eat salads and grilled chicken! News flash…I DON’T! Carbs are good. Period. It is important to know that. The biggest piece of advice I could give anyone is be smart about when you eat them! I choose to eat a dish like this on a day that I’ve trained hard (ie. leg day or a longer run) to make sure these carbs go to good use!

My kids LOVE this meal- in fact when I made it last week my oldest asked if we could eat it every night! ha! Both of my older sons had seconds! He also asked for it again today!

I love oven meals because once you get them set up, you have the time they are in the oven to do other things and not stand in front of the stove. This is so important with three small kiddos.

For this particular recipe, the chicken, bacon, pasta and mushrooms can all be made earlier in the day. This is totally clutch for me. If you have kids at school, or who nap (naptime is a great time to prep), this is a great meal to bust out. Yes, I know that time is “yours” but I don’t know about you…but the stress I get cooking when the three kids are running around…making it ahead of time is worth it!

Once everything is made, all you have to do is dump it in the pan, make the sauce (which literally takes 4 minutes) and throw it in the oven. BINGO.

I think pairing this with a simple salad would really complete the meal!

Ingredients:

1 lb spaghetti noodles (I use wheat or barilla protein)
1 container mushrooms
1 lb bacon cut in pieces (I use turkey bacon)
4-5 lb chicken breasts
Shredded mozarella

Sauce:
2 tablespoons melted butter
2-4 tablespoons of flour
1/2 pint Heavy cream
1 cup Chicken broth
Pepper

Boil Water & cook pasta. Cut bacon & dice chicken.
While pasta is cooking, sautee mushrooms in frying pan. In different pan, cook chicken. Place in dish.
Preheat oven to 375 F.
When mushrooms are finished sauteeing, brown bacon.
Place cooked pasta in 9 x 12 pan. Put cooked chicken, bacon and mushrooms on top of noodles.
Make Sauce: Add flour to melted butter and stir until there are no lumps. Pour into pot and add 1 cup chicken broth. Add 1/2 pint of cream. Heat over stovetop until thickened. (you may have to add more flour/more broth depending on thickness. More flour if it is too watery, more broth if too thick)
Stir sauce and pour over pasta mixture.
Put motzarella cheese on top and cook for 25-30 minutes or until browned. (sometimes I put the broiler on at the end to make it crispy)
Enjoy! Happy Monday!
xo
Alex