Chicken Enchilada Pasta and Black & White Bean Dip

This is a wonderful Mexican twist on pasta! Very tasty and great leftovers! The bean dip is interesting.....I'm so use to a creamy-type dip and I love beans, so I really enjoyed this (great leftover, also). The original pasta recipe says it serves 6-8 so I cut it in half and there is more than enough leftover for dinner tonight, along with a salad. The bean dip also makes quite a bit. I only baked half of it and saved the other half to use later in the week with something else. I'll list the recipes as I originally found them, but with a few notes on each of them of the changes I did or will make to suit my tastes better.

If you like pasta and like creamy Mexican dishes, I hope you'll try this. It will definitely be making more appearances around here.

CHICKEN ENCHILADA PASTA (serves 4)

cooked chicken, amount to taste (about 3/4 to 1 cup)

1 Tbsp olive oil

1-2 garlic cloves, finely minced

1/2 medium onion, diced

1/2 red pepper, diced

2 oz canned diced green chilies

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp (I would use 1) cumin

minced cilantro, amount to your taste

1 (10 oz) can green chili enchilada sauce (I use mild)

1/3 cup red enchilada sauce (I use mild)

small can sliced black olives

1/2 cup sour cream (I used reduced-fat)

3/4 cup shredded cheese (I used half Pepper Jack and half sharp cheddar)

8 oz penne pasta, cooked al dente (I used the mini Penne because that's what I had on hand)

Heat oil in large nonstick skillet and add the onion. Cook 2-3 minutes until onion is translucent. Add the garlic and red pepper and cook for another 2 minutes, until pepper is barely tender. Add the cooked chicken, green chilies, spices, cilantro, enchilada sauces and olives. Let the sauce simmer for about 8-10 minutes.

Add the sour cream and cheese and heat through, until the cheese is melted (do not boil). Mix in the cook pasta.

You can garnish with more sour cream, cheese, diced tomatoes, and/or green onions.

BLACK AND WHITE BEAN DIP

1 can of black beans

I can of white beans (I used Great Northern beans)

1 can of shoepeg corn

1 7 oz can of Herdez salsa verde

2 cup of shredded cheese (I used a mixture of cheddar, Jack, and pepper Jack)

4-6 chopped roma tomatoes (seed the tomatoes to get as much liquid out as possible)

1/2-1 tsp garlic salt

minced cilantro, amount to taste

Drain and rinse beans and corn together. Chop tomatoes. Mix everthing together (at this point, I put half away in another container to keep and used a small casserole dish {7x5} sprayed with cooking spray). If heating the entire amount, a 9" pie plate would work well. Sprinkle a little more cheese on top.

Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes. Serve with tortilla chips.