Lemon Pasta with Chicken

First off....Thank you to Chris for making my new breast cancer widget you see to the right.  I wanted to show my support for cancer research, so I looked all over the place for a widget that would take you to either The National Breast Cancer Foundation or the Susan G. Komen for the Cure websites. Surprisingly, I came up empty handed.  Chris knew how important it was to me (my Aunt Pam was diagnosed with breast cancer recently) so he came up with a widget I could at least display here on the site.  This widget won't take you to any sites, but it's at least a reminder that the fight is still on going.  Too many people are affected by breast cancer each year.  My one hope is that they find a cure...to all cancers...and in my lifetime.  Thank you baby, I love the widget!!

Now on to the food.............I'm not a huge fan of the Neely's show on the Food Network (they are a bit too lovey-dovey for my taste), but their recipes... well, try this one and tell me what you think :)  Seriously, this is good.  I've made this a ton of times since I came across it.  Chris loves it..I love it...its probably the second favorite pasta dish in our house (Bacon & Tomato pasta being #1).  This is light, fresh, and very easy.

By the way, this works with tuna fish too.  I've wanted to make this dish before and realized I didn't have chicken thawed out, so I just substituted a can of tuna and it was amazingly good!  If you used tuna packed in oil you could cut the amount of oil by at least 1 tablespoon.  You don't even need to heat the tuna, just toss it with the pasta, it will warm up quickly.

 

Lemon Pasta with Chicken

Adapted from The Neelys 

Ingredients:

1 pound dried penne or ziti
2 chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh parsley, for garnish
2 lemons, juiced
1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Directions:

Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain well.

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat a large skillet over medium high and add chicken. Cook until golden and completely cooked. Remove to a plate.

Add olive oil to the same skillet.  Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the cooked pasta and turn heat off. Mix all together. Remove pasta to a large bowl. Add chicken to the warm pasta and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle in chopped parsley. Add the juice of 2 lemons and mix. Before serving top with Parmesan.  Enjoy!