Parmesan Alfredo Shells

Oh I'm sorry, you were looking for something healthy? Um, not today. 

Unless heavy cream and lots of cheese is healthy, in which case - you're in the right place!

We decided to make new Pinterest recipes for date night. 

I'd originally told Carson to search for my name on Pinterest and go look at my boards, but for some reason my profile didn't come up, so he clicked on another "Lindsay Bay" and found a recipe I wouldn't have pinned, some sort of enchilada, and planned to serve that with a potato recipe. I showed him my actual profile and he chose two different things: Chicken Alfredo Shells and Bacon-Wrapped Asparagus. 

Chicken Alfredo Shells!
You'll Need:
24 cooked and dried jumbo pasta shells (6oz or so)
2 Tbs. Olive oil
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, seasoned (the first time, we cooked this on the stove; the second time [yes the second - our poor arteries] I cooked a bunch of chicken in the crockpot for recipes and we used what we needed. I recommend doing that anyway)

Sauce (which would be excellent over any sort of pasta)
1 1/2 C heavy whipping cream
2 cloves chopped garlic
1/2 stick butter (original recipe calls for a whole stick but you definitely will not miss it)
1 1/2 C grated Parmesan, divided
pepper
chopped fresh parsley (use as much as you want. Parsley is my personal favorite herb so I use more than recommended)

Preheat broiler. Spray muffin tins (we used regular but the original recipe recommends mini so whatever you have works); set aside. Cook pasta shells, rinse under cold water.

Heat oil over medium heat. Add chicken and saute, then chop (again, we already had chicken, so whatever works for you here).

Mix cream and garlic in large saucepan over med-low, until steaming. Whisk in butter until melted. Add 1C Parmesan, a little pepper, a little parsley (or a lot). Increase heat to med-high and simmer around 10 minutes. Stir in chicken and remove from heat.

-- if you're going the regular pasta route, top that with the mixture and go on your merry way. If not, keep reading! --

Fill pasta shells with about a tablespoon of the mixture. Sprinkle with the rest of the Parmesan.

Broil until bubbling and melted. Garnish with parsley.

Enjoy! And eat non-bacon veggies with this. Lots of them.
This can be put in the freezer pre-broil if you'd like to save for leftovers!

Here's the bacon-wrapped asparagus, which sounds amazing, but was in reality disappointing. The bacon was too chewy and the asparagus under it was too tough. I love when roasted asparagus crunches, so the tops were just perfect. The flavors were good too - perhaps we'll go a different direction and roast the asparagus WITH pieces of bacon next time for a better result (or just wrap green beans... those never fail).

Carson's hilarious, wonderful apron made by my mom. That's what you get for complaining about my girly ones - best thing? It's not ridiculously short on him. My other ones look like doll clothes on him!