Chicken Florentine Artichoke Bake

Tonight I tried out another new recipe. This one came from our cousin, Melissa, for chicken florentine artichoke bake. I hadn't originally planned this for the week, but ended up having to ax the soup since I didn't have enough broccoli on hand and haven't been able to make it to Meijer yet this week. I had all the ingredients on hand for this casserole, so I thought we'd give it a try. I'm so glad we did! This was delicious!! Kevin, Carson, and I all absolutely loved it. Kevin thought it was the best new recipe I've tried in the last few months. Carson kept wanting more and more - he even liked the spinach and the artichokes! I'll definitely make this again sometime. I thought it came together pretty easily. I left out the onion to avoid the step of sauteing it, but otherwise it came together pretty quickly.

Chicken Florentine Artichoke Bake

8 oz dried bow tie pasta (I used tri-color rotini)
1 small onion, chopped (I left this out to save a step)
1 Tbsp butter (left this out)
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups milk (I added a little more than this)
1 tsp dried Italian seasoning
1/4-1/2 tsp crushed red pepper (opt.)
2 cups chopped cooked chicken
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 14oz can artichoke hearts, drained and quartered
1 10oz 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 (I left these off)
1/2 tsp paprika
1 Tbsp butter, melted (I left this out)

Preheat oven to 350. Cook pasta according to package. Drain. In medium skillet cook onion in 1 Tbsp butter for 5 min or until tender, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and set aside.

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

Bake, covered, for 20 min. 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 6-8 servings.