Chicken ‘n Penne Pesto

Good Evening!  I hope you’re all enjoying the first addition of this week’s fashion tips for the summer wardrobe!  If you missed it, click here to check it out! 🙂

Dinner tonight happened last minute (literally), because Jay and I were supposed to have our first softball game tonight!  BUT, unfortunately, the fields didn’t appreciate the massive downpours we had here this afternoon, so the game was canceled.  BOOO.  Guess we’ll have to wait until next week!

I’ve been wanting to cook a little more with some of the pesto that I bought last week at the Farmers Market, so I figured tonight would be the perfect night.  We already had some extra chicken that we grilled last night, and the rest of the ingredients were just sitting in the kitchen waiting to be used! 🙂

First, I started off by boiling some lightly salted water.  Once boiling, I added my broccoli and cooked it for 3-4 minutes.  When it was ready, I removed it to another bowl, and added the pasta to start cookin!

Next, I chopped up some fresh garlic (1 large clove) in my Handheld Garlic Chopper.

I’ve gotta tell ya, this little contraption has got to be one of THE BEST items off our wedding registry. (Thanks Andrea!) 😉  It chops everything up so quick and easy, AND you don’t end up with garlic hands! 😀

I added the chopped garlic to a little olive oil and heated it in a warm skillet for about 2 minutes.  Then, I added the cooked broccoli, and sauteed together for about 3-4 more minutes.

Unfortunately, broccoli doesn’t always agree with the hubby’s tummy, so we had “His & Hers” saute pans tonight!  He decided on peppers and onions, also a delicious choice.

Once the pasta was ready, I drained it and added some to the “his & hers” pans, along with the chicken that Jay nicely sliced up, and the star ingredient, PESTO!  (I took about 1/3 of the chicken piece and Jay took the rest).

I let everything “get acquainted” for about another 2 minutes just to heat everything together. 😉  And then I ended up with this delish dish!

This stuff was DELICIOUS!  It honestly probably could have used a little MORE pesto, but since this was my first time cooking with the yummy stuff, I decided to play it safe.  At least I know better for next time! 😉

The rest of tonight is going to be spent watching one of my favorite guilty pleasure TV shows…ONE TREE HILL! 😀

Does anyone else watch this show?? I’m so totally hooked! 🙂