July 2, 2012

Creamy Chicken and Asparagus Pasta

Hello, hello!  I hope all of you enjoyed your weekend, but if not, you get a do-over right in the middle of the week this time.  :-)

I've had to watch what I eat lately, as I learned last week that I have gestational diabetes.  At first I thought it would be the pits because the fun of pregnant eating would disappear, but quite the opposite, actually.  It's opened me up to a world of creativity; after all, it's just a game of proportions (and monitoring... I admit the monitoring is not really all that fun.)  

I made this for dinner last week.  It's a really simple idea, just thrown together quickly, but it was quite delicious.  I used things I already had (basically a bunch of leftovers), so I have no idea what quantities I used of what.  I'll do my best to guess.

Ingredients:
1.  Chicken breast, cubed (I only used 1 breast)
2.  Olive oil
3.  Fresh asparagus, cut or broken into bite-size pieces
4.  Half n' half (approximately 1/8 cup)
5.  Grated Parmesan cheese (approximately 1/8 cup)
6.  Lemon pepper seasoning (to taste)
7.  Penne pasta, cooked (I used 1/4 of a box because it was all I had, but the proportion was perfect)

Method:

In a medium-to-large saucepan, cook the chicken in the olive oil.  Once it is cooked completely, add the asparagus until it softens to taste (I like a little crunch.)


Add the half n' half, cheese, pasta and seasoning.  Mix together and simmer until it thickens to taste.  Serve immediately.



How easy is that?  Jayson said he might like it better with tomatoes or something, which is an excellent idea, if I happen to have leftover tomatoes next time.  What easy 'mix-together-what-I-have' recipes do you like?  Please share! 


~ Sarah

2 comments:

Amy said...

I've done something similar with broccoli, cheddar cheese and dijon mustard. I'd add a bit of chicken stock to make the sauce richer without a lot of fat or calories. We used to call it Soccer chicken because the first time I made it Bill&Bits were running out to soccer practice and it was thrown together with stuff I had on hand!

Sarah said...

How delicious that sounds!! I'll have to try that sometime! :-)