I am a thief. Not a diamonds-and-cars thief (which would be a little bit awesome), but an ideas thief. Other people come up with brilliant ideas, and I steal them. However, unlike diamonds-and-cars thieves, I admit my thievery and give credit to those who deserve it. For example, this blog. I stole the idea from my friend Kelly, who recently started a food blog (the name of this blog was also Kelly's idea, although it was in reference to a bakery, not a blog). Of course, starting a food blog was not an original idea by Kelly, but it was a good idea, and since her good idea is how I got this idea, she is the one who gets the credit.
Two of my favorite ideas to steal are ideas for food and ideas for crafty things. I have recently been aided in this by Pinterest, one of the most addictive websites ever created. Yesterday while searching Pinterest for an idea for dinner, I came across a pin for the Easiest Pasta and Broccoli Recipe, and it looked and sounded amazing:
After a quick trip to the grocery store, I was ready to go. Now, a trip to the grocery store is normally no big deal, but I just moved to a brand-new, great-big city from my small-city hometown, so a trip to the grocery store by myself is noteworthy. Yes, I did have the assistance of a GPS, but the grocery store in question is actually too new for the GPS to be aware of, so again, noteworthy accomplishment. Be amazed!
Even though I steal ideas, I do have a modicum of my own creative juices and like to make the stolen idea my own. Easiest Pasta and Broccoli Recipe therefore became the recipe I now present for your viewing (and perhaps eating) pleasure.
Pasta with Broccoli, Roasted Red Bell Pepper, and Chicken
adapted from Skinnytaste
2 red bell peppers (next time I'll use 3)
Chicken breasts
16oz box whole wheat pasta, uncooked (I used penne)
2 heads broccoli, cut into florets (approx. 7 cups)
5 cloves minced garlic
5oz container of shredded cheese (I used a combo of Parmesan, Romano, and Asiago)
2 T olive oil, divided
Salt and fresh cracked black pepper, to taste
1. Roast the red bell peppers. Look up instructions online. Based on personal experience, I recommend doing it in the oven instead of on the stove top. Once they're roasted and have cooled, peel the skins, remove the core, and cut into whatever size pieces you like, and set aside.
2. Cook the chicken breasts. I used 5 smallish ones, and forgot to measure how much there was after it was chopped (hey, I'm new to this keeping track of what I'm doing thing...). I seasoned them using dried Italian Seasoning, sea salt, and fresh cracked black pepper. Once the chicken is cooked and cooled, chop it into cubes, and set aside.
3. While the chicken is cooking, put the water on to boil, and chop the broccoli. Once the water is boiling, dump in the pasta and broccoli, and cook according to the directions on the package. Once the noodles are done, siphon off 1 cup of the cooking water, then drain the pasta and broccoli.
4. Return the pot to the stove, add 1 T olive oil. Heat the oil over high heat, add the garlic and cook until golden. (At this point, definitely do not make a rookie mistake and walk away from the stove - my garlic burned in about 2 seconds and had to be thrown out...)
5. Once the garlic is cooked (and not burnt), turn the heat to low and add the pasta and broccoli back to the pot. Stir in the cubed chicken and roasted bell pepper. Add the remaining 1T olive oil, the reserved cooking water, the shredded cheese, and salt and pepper to taste; mix well.
6. Eat!
The Verdict:
Other than the garlic snafu, this was delicious and easy to make (although the additions of the chicken and bell pepper do make it more time-intensive than the original recipe's 15 minutes, it is still very doable for weeknight meal). Also, I may need to take a photography class. I either forgot to take pictures of the cooking process or the ones I took were not worth showing to other people. I really do not care for the final picture either, but you can't not have a picture of the final product...
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