Chicken Mozzarella Spinach Macaroni & Cheese

Lately, P.I.C. and I have been feeling the effects of a small bank account. One fabulous honeymoon, a fabulous destination wedding, a last-minute trip to Europe, then TWO MORE DESTINATION WEDDINGS (I'm not complaining, I swear)..but yeah, that eats up any discretionary income we might have.

We have found that an economical dinner has been to roast a chicken one night, then find more chicken-related dinner items for the rest of the week. Seriously. A chicken is maybe $6...it will feed us for FOUR meals. Budget-conscious kids, TAKE NOTE. In any event, we were running toward the end of our chicken stash, and coming off a big run this morning, I knew I needed some carbs. For me, that means one thing: MACARONI AND CHEESE.

But I didn't want to go spend more money. I had some limited items in my cupboard and fridge, so I figured, time to see where all of this cooking practice has gotten me. TIME TO INVENT MY OWN RECIPES. So, ladies and gents (wait, are there any guys reading this?), without further ado, I present my own version of a macaroni and cheese.

Ingredients:
-2 and a half cups pasta (I used the rest of a box of macaroni and some whole wheat penne)
-1/4 cup unsalted butter
-1/4 cup flour
-2 cups milk (I used 1%)
-2 cups mozzarella
-1 cup frozen spinach
-1 cup chopped cooked chicken
-1/2 onion
-3 cloves of garlic
-1 tsp oregano
-1/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan
-1/4 cup panko (any bread crumb will do, I just had this on hand)
-salt
-pepper

How to:
-Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
-Cook the noodles according to package directions.
-Mix together the panko and grated Parmesan.
-Saute onion, garlic, and spinach until onion is translucent and the spinach is no longer frozen. Stir in the chopped chicken. I used a little olive oil spray, but a drizzle in a pan would work just as well.
-Melt the butter. Stir in flour until well blended. (I use this tool. It has changed my life for any sort of sauce. I HIGHLY recommend it, and anything by Pampered Chef. Plus, it's called a mini-whipper. AMAZING.)
-Gradually add the milk, blending it well. Let mixture boil for a minute.
-Add oregano to milk mixture.
-Stir in mozzarella to the milk until creamy. It does get a little gooey, but don't fear, it works out.
-Stir in spinach mix to the cheese sauce. Salt and pepper to taste.
-Add in cooked noodles. until all noodles are coated with the sauce.
-Pour sauce into an 8x8 pan.
-Sprinkle the Parmesan and panko on top of the mixture.
-Bake for 10 minutes until top browns and mixture is nice and bubbly.

Enjoy!