In The Kitchen: Spaghetti with Sauteed Chicken and Grape Tomatoes

I am always a little hard-pressed to come up with ideas for dinner. we usually have the same things every week aside from the few TV dinners ( do they still say that?  haha)I throw in here and there.

One of my passions is watching the food network so I told myself that I was going to try to cook more whole foods and lay off the fast foods and prepackaged meals.   I came across this recipe' when looking for something relatively healthy, quick and easy to make.  Normally, I like a sauce with my pasta so I really didn't know what to expect with this recipe.  I really enjoyed it and It turned out rather well although I do plan on tweaking it a bit the next time I make it.



Ingredients:
2 skinless chicken breast halves, diced in 1 inch cubes
cooking spray
1/2 tsp each of dried oregano and dries basil
kosher salt and fresh pepper
8 oz spaghetti (high fiber or low carb) I used Ronzoni Smart Taste
2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
6 cloves garlic, smashed and coarsely chopped
4 tsp extra virgin olive oil
4 tbsp chopped fresh basil



Directions:
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.


Season chicken with salt,pepper,oregano and basil. Heat a large skillet on high heat. When hot, spray with oil and add chicken. Cook 3-4 min, until no longer pink. Remove chicken and set aside.

                                                            

Add pasta and cook according to package directions. Reserve about 1/2 cup pasta water before draining.

 While pasta cooks, add olive oil to skillet on high heat. Add garlic and sauté until golden brown (do not burn). Add tomatoes, salt and pepper and reduce heat to medium-low. Sauté about 4-5 minutes. When pasta is drained, add pasta to tomatoes and toss well. If pasta seems too dry, add some of the reserved pasta water. Add fresh basil and chicken and toss well. Serve and top with good grated cheese.

The Damage: ;)

Servings: 4 • Serving Size: 1 1/2 cups • Old Points: 5.5 pts • Points+: 9 pts
Calories: 329.7 • Fat: 6.8 g • Carb: 48.3 g • Fiber: 7.2 g • Protein: 25.0 g



Tweaks and do overs:

I'm quite sure that I mentioned I am not an exact follower of recipes.  I don't need to have exact measurements and things...I like to eyeball my ingredients but in this case it may have come back to bite me in the azz .

First of all, I didn't have any grape tomatoes on hand and was not about to run to the grocery store to get some so I improvised with some beautiful tomatoes on the vine  I already had on hand.  (I'm not kidding these tomatoes are gorgeous)..anyway, I didn't want to use them all in this recipe so I used about 5 and cut them into fourths.  As you can tell from the pic, I didn't have nearly enough tomatoes.  I also think that I  may have used too much pasta even though I added it into the dish on an as needed basis.

I'm also a sucker for pretty colors so I think the next time I make this, I will also try to add a variety different colored veggies.  maybe some green, red and yellow bell pepper.  The fresh basil added a pretty green color ( and the basil tasted amazing) but I need more...more color I say!

 I also decided to fore-go the cheese because all I had was the canned stuff and a recipe like this called from fresh Parmesan.

If you decide to try this... leave a comment letting me know how it turns out.


Getting it right,

Posted in: In The Kitchen