Thai Chicken Pasta

The Chili-Garlic Sauce looks like this: (I found some at Walmart but it wasn't garlic! Ooops! It was HOT chili sauce. I just added a little extra garlic and used what I bought and it worked.)

What you'll need:

12 oz Linguine

2-3 Cooked Chicken Breasts (cubed or shredded)

Sauce:

1 tablespoon Sesame Oil

1/2 cup Green Onions, chopped

1 C finely shredded Carrots

3 tbsp minced Garlic (yes 3, but it's really not too much, promise)

1/2 tablespoon ground ginger or 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced

1/2 cup Honey

1/2 cup creamy Peanut Butter

1/2 cup Soy Sauce

3 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 teaspoon chili-garlic sauce

Cilantro and additional green onions to garnish. (I left out the cilantro)
Peanuts to taste, chopped

Directions:

Break pasta into thirds and then cook pasta according to box directions. Drain, return to pot, and then set aside.

Heat 1 TBS of sesame oil in heavy pan over medium-high heat. Add green onions, carrots, garlic, and ginger. Saute until vegetables are softened, about 4 minutes.

Combine honey, peanut butter, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and chili-garlic sauce in a bowl and mix well. Add to vegetables. Add chicken. Simmer sauce for 2-3 minutes. Pour sauce over pasta and toss well with the chopped peanuts.

Notes:

I found this recipe here and here. The ingredients reminded me of my favorite pasta dish at The Cheesecake Factory. I added the chopped peanuts to the recipe. I loved it!! It came together really fast and was surprisingly simple. I think once you've made it the first time you'll have all the liquid ingredients on hand so that will help with future shopping lists:) Also, I don't think you can buy just 12oz of pasta. I only found 16oz boxes so I cooked it all. When it was drained I set aside some plain before I added the sauce. Lizy is a weirdo about new food so she was able to eat the plain noodles tossed with butter and parmesan cheese. You could also half this recipe.

Lemon-Herb Chicken Fettuccine

Recipe from Our Best Bites.

My ward had a cooking class this summer called Cooking with Lemons....best class hands down. Ever.  Everything I tried that night was so scrumdidiliumptious, but this fettuccine recipe stood out above all the rest.  It tastes best with fresh herbs and garlic and has a super lemon kick to it that I love! And sorry, I'm horrible, I forgot to take a picture:(  Just click on the link and she has all the pictures on her blog!

2 Large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 Lemons
2 T Red wine vinegar
Olive Oil
1/2 lb Fettuccine (half of the box)
2 medium zucchini
1 Cup shredded Parmesan cheese
5-6 Cloves garlic
Fresh basil (about 1/2 cup)
Fresh oregano (about 1/4 cup)
Salt and Pepper

Prepare grill. You could also do this on the stove top in a skillet, or a grill pan.

Place chicken in a zip-lock bag with the juice of one lemon, a couple TBS of olive oil, and a couple TBS of red wine vinegar. Smoosh around and set bag aside while you get your other things ready.

Put the pot on the stove to boil water for the pasta.  While you are waiting for the water to boil, slice the zucchini in half length wise.  Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Press, or finely mince garlic cloves.  In a small sauce pan on the stove, place about 1/4 cup olive oil and add garlic.  Turn burner onto low heat.  It shouldn't be popping and frying, it should just slowly warm, infusing the oil with the garlic and removing that zing that fresh garlic has.

When water boils, add pasta and a spoon full of salt.

Remove chicken from bag and salt and pepper both sides.  Place chicken, and zucchini on grill.  While chicken and zuchs are grilling and pasta is boiling, chop herbs and get out cheese.  Zest both lemons and juice the one that hasn't been juiced.

See, now you're all ready.  When everything is done cooking you can throw it together.  Keep an eye on that garlic.  You DON'T want it to get brown and crispy.  It should still look nice and white.  Give it a stir.  If it starts really cooking, just take it off the heat and set aside.

When zuchs and chicken are done take them off the grill and chop them up.

Reserve about 1/2 cup pasta water.  Drain pasta and immediately place in a big bowl.  Place chopped zuchs and chicken on the top.  Add lemon zest, lemon juice, cheese, herbs, and garlic olive oil mixture.  Just pile it all in there.

Now take some tongs and give everything a big toss.  If you feel it needs more moisture, add a little of the pasta water, or a little more olive oil.  This will make 4 generous portions.  Garnish with a little more Parmesan on top and another squeeze of lemon.

Rosemary Chicken Pasta

(Recipe and picture from: vittlesdivine.blogspot.com)

Ok, so I know I just posted, but I gave this new recipe a try and we LOVED it! My Dad and Brady came over to help fix our washer and Brady ate 3 helpings of the chicken.....so it has to be kid friendly and good. My favorite Brady quote, "Um...there is a little grass on my chicken!" aka rosemary, I ended up buying the dried leaves.

*My only substitutes were less garlic, no onion and next time I will probably just use the whole 16 oz. of pasta......I like to live on the edge!


Ingredients

3 breasts of boneless, skinless chicken

2/3 cup flour

4 tsp olive oil (divided)

4 tsp butter (divided)

1/4 cup diced onions

4 minced garlic cloves

2 cups water

1 cup unsweetened white grape juice

4 cubes chicken boullion

1 tsp ground or regular rosemary leaves

1/2 tsp salt

dash pepper

12 ounces angel hair pasta (not 16 oz!!)

fresh chives (optional; I have never used them)

Directions

Cut thawed chicken breasts into bite-size pieces and put into bowl. Pour flour into bowl and stir until chicken is well coated with flour. In a wide, deep skillet, combine 3 tsp olive oil and 3 tsp butter and heat over med-high until bubbly hot. Add chicken and cook, turning until lightly browned and cooked through (approximately 5-10 minutes). Remove chicken and set aside.

To skillet, add 1 tsp butter and 1 tsp oil. Add onions and garlic cloves, saute until softened (about 2-4 minutes)

Add water, white grape juice, bouillon, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Simmer covered approximately 5 minutes. Return chicken to skillet and simmer covered approximately 8-10 minutes. Sauce will thicken slightly and chicken will be heated through.Before chicken is added to the pot, get started on the pasta. Cook angel hair pasta and drain as suggested on package, but do not rinse (tip I learned from America's Test Kitchen).

One idea for this recipe is to break pasta into 2-4 inch pieces before boiling.When pasta is ready, slowly add pasta to the skillet with the sauce and chicken. Optional: cover and simmer for 1-2 minutes, serve warm. (I say "optional" because I sometimes forget to keep simmering it and it's ok. Last night I just dumped the sauce and noodles together into a serving bowl.) It will look very soupy, high-liquid when you first add the pasta to the sauce if you have done the previous steps right -- covered-- but after it sits for a few minutes, most of the liquid will absorb into the noodles. Don't be alarmed! Trust me, you want it this way! It all works out in just a few minutes!