Bruschetta Chicken Pasta

The process of planning out a dinner for the BF and I usually involves 1-3 hours of research, googling, cookbook flipping, blog reading and a substantial amount of quality time spent on allrecipes.com.  This will result in a list of 3-6 options with corresponding website links and/or attached photos, which I will then email to the BF for his consideration.  If I’m lucky he’ll rule out 1-2 items on the list that aren’t striking his fancy and then leave the final decision up to me.  More often than not, he’ll respond that all the items on the list in question look fabulous and that “everything you cook turns out delicious” (LIES!!!!!) and then leave the final decision up to… you guessed it.  Moi.   This is a little game I like to call For the Love of God Will You Make a Decision, Man, or FTLOGWYMADM, as we say.

I wouldn’t say I’m indecisive.  The problem is my decision making abilities are clouded by my gluttonous desire to eat the world once over.  When I do finally reach a decision I stick to it with a supernatural stubbornness, but getting to that point can be a wee bit exhausting.  Decision making on an empty stomach is horrid after all, and I’ve mentioned a time or five before that bad things happen when I don’t eat.

All I want is a plate full of deliciousness.

A mound of this, perhaps:

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After playing our normal round of FTLOGWYMADM and going through the subsequent mental debate, I decided to go with this recipe for Bruschetta Chicken pasta I saw on Iowa Girl Eats.  It’s really not much of a recipe, and that makes me love it all the more.

This pièce de résistance of this dish is the balsamic drizzle.  Simply simmer a cup of balsamic vinegar over medium heat for 15 minutes.  The vinegar will reduce by about half, and once removed from the heat it will continue to thicken as it cools.

While I waited for the balsamic vinegar to reduce, I got to prepping my veggies.

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The asparagus was for the pasta and the sprouts were our side dish.  Love me some veg.

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Jarred bruschetta sauce is the secret behind the simplicity of this pasta dish.  Thank you Trader Giotto 🙂

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This pasta was so simple, in fact, that I decided to squeeze in a little nap.

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Before I fell asleep at the pan, I cut the chicken into big chunks, seasoned with S&P, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder and tossed into a saute pan with 2 tsp olive oil.   Then I dropped 6 ounces of penne pasta into boiling water.

Once the chicken was cooked through, I sautéed the veggies with garlic salt, black pepper, and 1 tsp olive oil.

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When the pasta reached al dente, I combined the chicken, asparagus, jar of bruschetta, and penne in the skillet and sautéed until everything was heated through.

Last but not least, I topped the pasta with a little balsamic drizzzzzzle:

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This pasta was DELICIOUS, filling, and balanced, and the tangy balsamic drizzle wowed my tastebuds.  I will definitely be adding this recipe to the playbook.

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Bruschetta Chicken Pasta Ingredients List (serves 4)

Recipe from Iowa Girl Eats

  • 1 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 6 ounces penne pasta
  • bunch of asparagus, trimmed
  • 1 jar of tomato bruschetta
  • 12 ounces chicken breast
  • 1 tbsp olive oil, divided
  • Seasonings of your choice (S&P, garlic salt, Italian seasoning, garlic powder)
Step One:  Simply simmer a cup of balsamic vinegar over medium heat for 15 minutes.  The vinegar will reduce by about half, and once removed from the heat it will continue to thicken as it cools.
 
Step Two:  Cook pasta to al dente as per pasta box instructions.  Meanwhile, cut the chicken into chunks, season with S&P, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder and saute with 2 tsp olive oil until no longer pink.  Remove from pan.  In the same pan, saute asparagus until crisp tender.
 
Step three:  Combine cooked pasta, chicken, asparagus, and bruschetta mix in the pan and saute until heated through.  Serve with balsamic reduction drizzled over top!
 

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Shrimp & Mac & Cheese

WOW guys.  WOW.

Drooling yet??

For the big game this past weekend, I was looking for a something a little different to take to the family party… Something a little healthified but that still packed a little somethin somethin.  During my search, I stumbled upon the the Mac and Cheese Light recipe from the September 2010 Cooking Lite, and it looked like the perfect fit!  You can never have too much cheese on super bowl Sunday, I always say.

What really drew me to this particular recipe was that it started off with the “secret weapon” – a puree consisting of one whole LARGE onion and 9 cloves of garlic. 

Hello lover. 

Clearly this was destiny. 

First up, I put a big ole pot of water on the stove to boil, then tossed a large Vidalia onion and 9 cloves roughly chopped garlic into a bowl with 1/2 cup water. 

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I covered this guy with plastic wrap and nuked in the microwaved for 10 minutes.  Prepare to smell like onions and garlic for the remainder of the day.  Don’t worry.  I won’t judge you.

After 10 minutes, you dump this onion garlic goodness out into a blender and pulse until smooth.  It should look like grits, ya’ll:

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By now the water should be boiling, so drop in 8 Ounces Barilla Plus Elbow Macaroni and cook until al dente.

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Meanwhile season up you onion garlic puree with:

  • 1 tsp dried mustard
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne
  • Salt and pepper to taste (I used A LOT)

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Once the pasta is done, drain and set aside.  Then heat your onion garlic puree up in a pot (large enough to hold the sauce and the pasta), and once hot and bubbly slowly whisk in 2 cups shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese. 

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It should be gloriously thick.

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Once the cheese is all melted in, take it off the heat and whisk in 2/3 cup fat free plain greek yogurt, then add in the cooked pasta.  Once everything is combined, pour the mac and cheese into a casserole dish greased with cooking spray.

Sprinkle the top with

  • 1/2 cup whole wheat panko bread crumbs
  • 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
  • Sprinkling of dried parsley

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Baked at 425 for 15 minutes:

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Cheesy deliciousness:

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Just to balance things out, I also made a big arse salad for the game:DSCF5263

No joke.  Big. Arse.

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Of course I finangled one serving of the mac and cheese to take home with me after the game, and I decided to spice it up a bit for dinner tonight.

I LIBERALLY seasoned up 4 jumbo shrimp with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper and sautéed them up on a pan:

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I also roasted up some broccoli  that I had liberally seasoned with S&P … and I also microwaved the mac and cheese.  Don’t judge.

VOILA!

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That is a seriously grown up healthified mac and cheese masterpiece!!!

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I havent had roasted broccoli in months!! I practically lived off of roasted veggies last summer, and I had somehow forgotten how friggin delicious they are! 

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The mac and cheese by itself was a little too mild for my tastes – so, at the super bowl party I topped it off with some Frank’s Red hot.  But for tonight’s dinner this spicy cayenne shrimp added plenty of kick:

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Can’t get over how delicious!

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Get in my beeeeeeeeeeeelllllllllllllllllllllllllllllly!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Stats on 1 serving mac and cheese (no shrimp):  275 calories, 30g carbs, 10g fat, 17g protein, 3g fiber

Stats on 1 serving mac and cheese WITH shrimp:  322 calories, 30g carbs, 11g fat, 26g protein, 3g fiber

 

Mac & Cheese Ingredients List (serves 8 )

  • 1 large Vidalia onion
  • 9 cloves roughly chopped garlic
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 8 Ounces Barilla Plus Elbow Macaroni
  • 1 tsp dried mustard
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 cups reduced fat cheddar
  • 2/3 cup fat free Greek yogurt
  • 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
  • 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
  • Sprinkling of dried parsley

 

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Mock mac and cheese

One of life’s true pleasures is a big ole plate of macaroni and cheese.  I’m talking homemade oven-baked cheesy glory.  Once fall rolls around, I start to get some serious cravings for comfort food.  I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.  Comfort foods.  The foods that make you feel warm and cuddly from the inside out.  The foods that make you want to hug your belly and sway side to side just because they taste so dang good.  The foods that you’d like to pour into a giant tub so you could jump in and swaddle yourself in their heavenly gooey warmth….  What.. that’s just me?!

Anyway, tonight I decided to give healthified mac and cheese a go in an attempt to satisfy my comfort food craving.  I remember seeing a recipe a while back on the Hungry Girl email blast, and that was the basis for my dinner (though I couldn’t find the email).

The main components of my mac and cheese were Carba Nada pasta and lightly sauced broccoli:

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 And 1 light French Onion laughing cow wedge:

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Carba nada only takes 5 minutes to cook, so this meal was ready for chowing in no time!  While the pasta cooked I also threw together a small salad with romaine lettuce, tomato, onion, and some Ken’s Lite Caesar dressing (LOVE that stuff).

All together:

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The flavors were a little mild, so I added some red pepper flakes and black pepper on top:

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Cheesy goodness:

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Not too shabby!  If you could get laughing cow in light cheddar that would take this dinner to a whole new level!

Stats on 1 serving mock mac and cheese:  235 calories, 32g carbs, 5g fat, 16g protein, 8g fiber

On a separate note, I’m debating on whether or not to join a gym for the winter.  Twice in my life I had succumbed to signing up for a year-long gym membership, and BOTH times I stopped going after only a couple months… yet still had to pay for the entire year.  I’m really not big on gyms… but without a gym, I see myself simply not exercising this winter.  Any tips for making the gym FUN?

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Dinner in under 10 Minutes

Change of plans!  Due to the torrential down pour that’s being dumped on us in northeast Ohio, there was no cooking out today.

Instead, I was left with the task of cooking myself a dinner using only ingredients I had in the house.  I opened up the pantry to find a bag of Carba Nada pasta begging to be eaten:

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I also happened to have some grilled chicken breast leftover from Tuesday night’s cookathon, and in the deep dark depths of my freezer I was lucky to find a single serving of Classico Fire Roasted Tomato & Garlic pasta sauce.  Just another perfect example to validate my love and obsession for freezing foods in individual servings 🙂

Batch cooking your meats saves a TON of time throughout the week, but towards the end of the week the meat (especially chicken) can start to get a little dry.  When I make pasta sauce with any sort of meat, I like to steep the meat in the sauce, which makes it nice and juicy and tender.

So, while I was waiting for the pasta water to boil, I put the pasta sauce in small pan and added about 3 ounces of grilled chicken and my typical  pasta sauce barrage of spices:  S&P, Red Pepper Flakes, Dried Oregano, Dried Basil, Onion Powder, and Garlic Powder.  All you really need to do is open up your spice cabinet and toss in a few shakes of whatever sounds good to you 🙂

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Once the water was boiling, I dropped a serving of the Carba Nada pasta into the pot.  Carba Nada only takes 5 minutes to cook (awesome!) and is only 140 calories (AWESOMER!), 24g carbohydrates, 12g protein, and 6g fiber.  And it ACTUALLY tastes good.

While the sauce and pasta were getting their grooves on, I made a small side salad with some lettuce, tomato, onion, and Ken’s Steakhouse Light Balsamic Dressing.

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Dinner is served my friends!

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Pastalicious

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Chow time!

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Dinner in under 10 minutes… sure tastes good! 

Stats on dinner:  398 calories, 48g carbs, 8g fat, 32g protein, 13g fiber

If you are interested in trying out the Carba Nada pasta, I recommend ordering from Netrition because they have $4.95 flat-rate shipping.  (I also order my Mama Lupe low-carb tortillas, PB2, and Joseph’s Bakery products on this site)

 

QUESTION:  What’s your favorite done-in-under-ten-minutes dinner? 

 

 

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Cajun Chicken Pasta

Change of plans for dinner last night!  Jarrod decided he wanted to make us some dinner, and of course I was not opposed to such a wonderful idea 🙂

Jarrod and I LOVE pasta.  Prior to my 2010 plan to healthify my life, I’d eat pasta 2-3 times each week.  Nowadays, it’s more like 0-1 times per week.  As evidenced by the pasta dinner we had on vacation (and again, and again, and again, and again), we just don’t really EVER get sick of a nice pasta dinner.

First, Jarrod sautéed some garlic, sliced onions, sliced white mushrooms, and the rest of the banana pepper I grew in my garden:

Once the veggies were nice and tender, he added them to a simmering pot of Classico Fire Roasted Tomato & Garlic sauce.  Meanwhile, he threw some chicken breasts on the george foreman grill.  They were seasoned up with a little olive oil and A TON of cajun seasoning.  And he also dropped some Dreamfields Penne Pasta.

Pasta dinner comes to fruition:

On the side, we had a delicious salad consisting of romaine lettuce, sliced red onions, roma tomatoes, green pepper and Ken’s Steakhouse Lite Balsamic Dressing:

LOVE me a good salad!  I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again:  that Ken really knows a thing or two about salads!

This dinner rocked my socks 😀

Jarrod didn’t measure all of the ingredients out like I do, so calculating the stats was more of an art than a science this time. 

Stats for 1 4 ounce boneless skinless chicken breast with 1 tsp olive oil, 1 serving Dreamfields Pasta, 1/2 cup Classico Fire roasted Tomato & Garlic sauce, 1/4 cup sliced white onion, 1/4 cup sliced mushrooms, 1/4 cup sliced banana pepper: 434 calories, 57g carbs, 8g fat, 31g protein, 9g fiber

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