Easy Linguine Casserole al la Steph

So I found a magazine called "Healthy Cooking:  Comfort Food Makeovers" and found several delicious looking recipes and decided to try one.   This one looked good, but I just KNEW I could make it better.  So I changed a few things:  1.  I added chicken and mushrooms, 2. I caramelized the onions because I cannot stand biting into crunchy onions, 3.  I omitted the small green pepper the recipe called for because Jess was eating with me and cannot stand green peppers, 4.  I used the whole box of linguine instead of half so that I would have plenty of left-overs, and 5.  I added garlic -- it's not real food without garlic.  I love garlic!!.  Oh and I used a tiny bit of milk to stretch the sauce a bit.

So let's begin....

Ingredients:  1 box of whole wheat linguine, broken in half, 2 cups fully cooked lean ham, 1-3/4 cup of shredded Swiss, divided, 1 can reduced fat-reduced sodium cream of mushroom soup, undiluted, 1 cup reduced fat sour cream, 1 medium onion chopped,

Get your pot of water on to boil the linguine.  Cook it until Al Dente because you're going to bake the dish as well and you don't want mushy pasta.

Next, chop your onion -- and while you're chopping it heat some olive oil in a skillet. 

Olive oil is heart healthy!!

Cook the onions for a bit and as the start to soften add about a tablespoon of garlic and the mushrooms. cook them until the onions are translucent.

Then I added the two chicken breasts and covered them with the onions and mushrooms while they cooked.  While the chicken cooked the onions, garlic, and mushrooms added flavor and caramelized.  They were so sweet and yummy!!

While the chicken is cooking it's a great time to shred the cheese if you have to.  Don't forget to check your pasta often to make sure you don't over cook it.

When the chicken was done it looked like this.  Mmmmm

I mixed the linguine, ham, cheese, soup, sour cream, and milk in a large bowl and mixed it well.

Then I diced up the chicken.

and added the chicken, mushrooms/onions to the mixture in the bowl and tossed it all together.

Then I spread it into a 9x13 casserole dish and baked it at 350 degrees, covered for 35 minutes.  Then I took it out, uncovered and sprinkled 1/4 cup of Swiss cheese on the top and put it back in, uncovered, for 10 minutes.

We had it with some fresh steamed green beans. 

It was a very starchy meal, but delicious!! 

We had tons of left overs and had it for lunch the next day and then I cooked some Brussels sprouts and had it for another dinner.  During the week I love having left overs in the fridge because they are quick and easy. 

Was pretty good comfort food!!  If I had made it exactly as the recipe stated it would have only been 293 calories a serving, but mine was a bit more with the chicken and the caramelized onions/mushrooms.  but not much more. :) 

No worries -- I got a new exercise bike and worked it off anyway.  I'll post pictures of it soon.  It's amazing and has a computer attached that tracks speed, mileage, calories burned, time elapsed, and will take my pulse.  It also has games to play and I can plug my iPod into it.  Like I said, I'll post pictures soon.