Chicken Parmesan Casserole

Another HOME RUN brought to you by This Blog.

Ingredients

• uncooked chicken breasts (however many you want/need)
• Slightly cooked pasta of your choice, about 1 cup for 8x8, 2 cups for 9x13)
• olive oil (just one dollop)
• minced garlic (a smattering…a little more than a smattering if you really like garlic)
• red pepper flakes (leave these out if you don’t like any heat)
• marinara sauce (probably won’t need more than one jar unless you are a marinara fiend)
• Parmesan cheese
• mozzarella cheese (you will need twice as much mozzarella as Parmesan)
• croutons (we used Italian-seasoned)

The original recipe doesn't call for pasta, but I loved the addition! Boil the pasta for about half the time as directed on the package.  They should be very chewy still and they will finish cooking in the oven.  Othewise it will get mushy if you cook it all the way first.   While the pasta is cooking, drizzle oil, and sprinkle garlic and pepper flakes on bottom of the casserole dish of your choice (adjust the ingredients to the size you choose)., and cube the chicken and place uncooked into dish.  Once the pasta is cooked, add it to the chicken and cover with desired amount of marinara sauce.  I used half a jar for 8x8 and whole jar for 9x13.  Mix together 2 cups Mozzerella cheese and desired amount of parm cheese.  Using half of the cheese mixture, cover the chicken marinara.  Then top the cheese with croutons and then cover those with the remaining cheese.  Bake at 350 for 30 min. Enjoy!!