Eat Your Rainbow with Chicken Pesto Pasta

Look at me! I'm on a recipe roll! How fun. Like I mentioned in my last post, I have been stuck in a cooking rut, and I hate it. I think what I hate most about it, isn't just preparing the same stuff every single week. Yeah, it's boring, but I think my main issue with the repetitive nature of the dinners I've been making is that I have started to hate cooking. I would dread getting in the kitchen and sometimes would make ANY excuse whatsoever to get out of it, and order in, or go out. I just couldn't stand the idea of another night of tilapia with rice and a veggie, breakfast for dinner AGAIN, or another plate of meat sauce ands spaghetti. No.

So I decided to quit being spiteful in the kitchen, and instead decided to draw inspiration from my friends' Snapchat stories, Pinterest and other Facebook images for meal planning ideas. My last dinner I featured here on SD&S was from my friend Stacey's Snapchat, where she recreated a recipe from Chelsea's Messy Apron. I decided to do the same, and had a lot of fun doing creating the foil pack creamy salsa verde chicken. Plus? It was absolutely and completely and amazingly delicious. I want more right now, in fact. Yum.

So last night, instead of falling back into routine, I decided to take inspiration again, this time from a Pinterest recipe I found. I didn't recreate it, since I didn't have one of the ingredients, and I also wasn't about to spend $4 a pound of asparagus, which was another one of the ingredients, so instead, I made it my own, and took a little creative license.

So what I have for you today is yet another take on chicken pesto pasta. It's easy, tasty and it was a crowd pleaser. It's packed with flavor, and is a great way for your and your family to eat the rainbow.

Another Chicken Pesto Pasta

Yet another take on chicken pesto pasta. Eat your rainbow with this easy and delicious dinner.

1. 1.5 lb chicken breasts, cut into 1" pieces
2. A few shakes each: salt, pepper, basil, oregano, red pepper flake, garlic powder
3. 1-2 tbsp olive oil
4. Pesto sauce
5. Cherry or grape tomatoes, halved - I used 3/4 of a container, so about 1.5 cups
6. Chopped roasted red peppers. as much as you'd like
7. Green beans
8. Pasta of choice, cooked al dente, and drained

1. Put chicken pieces into a bowl, and shake the seasonings over it. Stir to coat.
2. Put olive oil in a large pan, and heat. Add chicken and cook.
3. Add a spoonful of pesto, and toss.
4. Meanwhile, put rinsed and trimmed green beans in a microwave safe bowl, and microwave covers for 3 minutes.
5. Add the tomatoes and red peppers. Stir. Cook about 5 minutes.
6. Chop the cooked green beans into bite sized pieces, and toss into the chicken, pepper and tomato mixture. Cook some more.
7. Add pasta and toss. Cook 2 min longer.
8. If necessary, add another spoonful of pesto sauce.
9. Serve hot.
10. Optional, top with parmesan cheese.

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