Category: Pasta Dishes

Mushroom and Asparagus Spaghetti

I think I’ve mentioned before – we can always eat pasta. It tends to be a go to. What’s not to love – easy and delicious and so many possibilities.

Today’s pasta started with me looking to see what veggies we had in the veggie drawer (seems like we’ve been eating a lot of meat lately, so a meatless meal seemed appropriate). Asparagus and mushrooms – two of my faves! With that, I decided to use spaghetti pasta and make a cream sauce.

I started by chopping and slicing the veggies.

In a skillet, I added some butter and garlic and allowed it to cook for a bit.

Then I added in the asparagus, first, as it takes longer to soften – followed by the mushrooms.

I had some chicken stock opened in the refrigerator, so I used that as the base for the sauce. If you wanted to go vegetarian, you could certainly use a vegetable stock (or even just some of the water from the pasta). For me, I could never do this dish vegan, though – I need the cheese!

I allowed the stock to come to a boil, then reduced the heat and added in the cream. I also added some romano cheese, which helps the sauce to thicken, as well.

Once the sauce had thickened a bit, I tossed in the pasta and stirred it well. Finally, I topped it with more Romano cheese.

This pasta was served hot (and, with a little more cheese – yes, I love Romano cheese!)

Mushroom and Asparagus Spaghetti

8-10 baby bella mushrooms, sliced
12-15 spears of asparagus, chopped
Spaghetti noodles, cooked
3/4 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 tbsp butter
1/2 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tbsp Umami seasoning
Romano cheese (grated finely)

  • Cook pasta (I used enough for 4 -5 servings), set aside
  • In skillet, melt butter and add garlic – cook for a few minutes
  • Add in the asparagus (and seasonings) and let it cook for about 4 minutes, then add in the mushrooms and cook for another 8 minutes
  • Add in chicken stock and bring to a boil
  • Once boil is achieved, reduce heat and add in cream
  • Grate some romano on top of sauce (maybe 3 tbsp) and mix through
  • Allow sauce to simmer until it thickens some
  • Toss in pasta, then add more Romano cheese, as desired
by Michelle

Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo

It is no secret that the girls and I love pasta! We, generally, eat it at least once a week and we like to try different combinations of flavors. But, one that we always love is alfredo sauce – with shrimp or chicken or alone, we love alfredo sauce!

This time it was chicken alfredo. You, truly, can’t get much simpler than alfredo sauce. Unless you’re getting fancy, there are only 4 ingredients in it – not counting seasonings – milk or cream (we like it with heavy cream – I know it isn’t the healthiest, but it’s what we like!), butter, garlic and parmesan cheese.

I started this recipe by cooking my chicken. I tossed it, lightly, in a mixture of flour and Umami seasoning. I added it to the pan, along with some garlic, and browned it (cooking it 3/4 of the way through) in a pan with some avocado oil and removed it from the pan.

While the chicken was cooking, I chopped up some fresh broccoli for the sauce. I steamed this in a steamer basked in my pasta pot.

Back to the sauce – after removing the chicken from the pan I turned down the heat to medium-low and melted the butter. Once the butter was melted, I lowered the heat to low and added in the cream and allowed it to heat through.

Once the cream was warmed through, I started adding in the cheese, 1/4 cup at a time and stirring constantly. I find that adding the cheese a little bit at a time helps with ensuring that all of the cheese melts – and you don’t have globs of cheese in your sauce.

Once all of the cheese had been incorporated and melted, I added the chicken back into the pan and stirred.

Then I added in the broccoli from the steamer basket.

And, finally, I added in the pasta. I mixed everything together and it was ready to go.

When serving it, we add a little more parmesan (have I mentioned that we love cheese?) and we’re ready to eat!

Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo Pasta

1 box pasta (I used penne)
2-3 chicken breasts (cut into cubes)
2 tbsp garlic
1 1/2 cups heavy cream (don’t judge!)
1 1/2 cups grated parmesan
2 tbsp butter
2-3 cups broccoli
1-2 tbsp Umami seasoning
2-4 tbsp Flour
Avocado oil spray

  • In a gallon bag, toss chicken with umami seasoning and flour to lighty coat the chicken (adjust amounts depending on how much chicken you are cooking)
  • In hot pan, add avocado oil, garlic and chicken – cook until chicken is 3/4 way done. Remove from pan.
  • Add butter to pan and melt
  • Reduce heat and add cream to pan
  • Once cream is warmed through, add in cheese 1/2 cup at a time – until all cheese has been added and is melted.
  • Return chicken to pan and stir with sauce.
  • Add broccoli and pasta to sauce, mix well.
  • Top with more parmesan cheese, if desired, and enjoy!
by Michelle

Pasta with Chicken, Tomato and Lemon Sauce

Let’s face it – Mondays are hard! And hard days need easy dinners. Between needing something easy and the fact that I didn’t make pasta this past weekend, pasta seemed like the best option (can you tell that I missed my pasta this weekend?? I did – I admit it, I did!).

As 99% of my pasta recipes do, this one started with onions and garlic. It also included chicken, cherry tomatoes, lemon juice! All good things things in my book!

Ignore that there are 2 lemons here – I ended up only using one.

I started by prepping my ingredients – dicing the onion, cubing the chicken and halving the tomatoes.

Then I cooked the onion and garlic, in a hot pan, with a small amount of oil – until the onions were translucent.

I added the cubed chicken and spices and cooked the chicken through.

The final step of making the ‘sauce’ for the pasta was to add the chicken stock, cream, lemon juice, tomatoes and basil. While I was cleaning up my prep mess (when I can – I prefer to clean as I go – it’s so much nicer to sit down to dinner without having a mess hanging over you!), I let the sauce thicken.

Then I just added the pasta and topped with a little bit of parmesan cheese and stirred well.

To serve, everyone just added as much additional parmesan cheese as they liked.

Despite the heavy cream – this sauce was refreshingly light! A perfect pasta for a Monday night – and will make some mighty fine leftovers for lunch tomorrow!

Pasta with Chicken, Tomato and Lemon Sauce

2 chicken breasts, cubed
1 box bowtie pasta
2 -3 cups halved cherry tomatoes (adjust give your tastes)
1/2 white, diced
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp garlic
1 tsp garlic salt
2 tsp umami seasoning
Juice of one lemon
1/2 tsp olive oil
1 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
Parmesan cheese (optional)

  • Dice onion, halve cherry tomatoes and cube chicken breasts
  • Cook pasta to al dente, set aside
  • In hot pan, add olive oil, onion and garlic – cook until onions are translucent
  • Add in chicken, salt, garlic salt and umami seasoning – cook chicken until done
  • Add in lemon juice, chicken stock and heavy cream – bring to a boil
  • Reduce heat, add tomatoes and basil – cook for 15 minutes
  • Add in pasta, stir and cook allow to simmer for 5-10 minutes.
  • Top with parmesan cheese and serve
by Michelle

Vegetable Pasta for One (and change)

I love the days that I work from home, because it means that I can have something fresh cooked for lunch. I do love my leftovers, but it is nice to get my lunch out of a pan or a pot, rather than the microwave, when I can.

Today was a work from home day! Enter a delicious pasta meal for one (if you’re REALLY hungry) or two moderately hungry people. Having skipped breakfast, I was REALLY hungry!

I decided on some simple ingredients: pasta, tomatoes, artichoke hearts, garlic, lemon, store bought pesto sauce and seasonings.

I started by boiling my pasta and chopping up some artichoke hearts and slicing some cherry tomatoes (I love both of these foods, so much). They would be good added, as is, but I wanted to cook them up just a little bit in a pan to heighten the flavors.

The vegetables were added to a pan, after spraying a little bit of avocado spray and cooking some minced garlic a bit.

After the vegetables cooked for a while, I added the liquids (cream and lemon juice) to create a light sauce.

The next step was just to toss the cooked pasta in the skillet and mix it all together.

Finally, the pasta was topped with parmesan cheese and fresh basil.

Easy, quick and delicious lunch for one!

Vegetable Pasta for one (and change)

1 serving of pasta (I used spaghetti)
10-15 cherry tomatoes (halved)
2-3 artichoke hearts (from jar)
1 tbsp pesto sauce
cooking spray / oil (I use avocado spray oil)
1/2 tbsp minced garlic
juice of 1/2 – 1 lemon (depending on how much you like – I used a whole lemon)
2 tbsp heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste
parmesan cheese
Fresh basil

  • Boil pasta as directed, until al dente
  • Spray skillet with a small amount of cooking
  • Put a small amount of cooking spray / oil in pan
  • Add garlic and cook for a few minutes
  • Add tomatoes and artichokes to pan and cook about 5 min
  • Add salt and pepper (just a pinch of each, or to taste)
  • Add cream and warm through
  • Add lemon juice and allow to cook 2 – 3 min
  • Toss in pasta
  • Top with parmesan cheese and basil and serve
by Michelle

Chicken and Broccoli Pasta in Cream Sauce

As I have mentioned before, we usually do pasta on Saturday or Sunday, every week. This weekend, with the holiday, we decided to do our pasta on Monday in stead. Chicken and Broccoli Pasta in Cream Sauce, with sundried tomatoes, is what I decided on.

I had half of an onion left from yesterday’s frittata, so I started by chopping it finely. I also went ahead and chopped the sundried tomatoes.

I sprayed a little bit of avocado spray into a large skillet. The onions and garlic were added and cooked until the onions were translucent.

The next step was to add the chicken to the pan.

At this time, I also added the umami seasoning (if you haven’t tried this seasoning, why not?? It is delicious! The only I use, I get from Trader Joe’s).

Once the chicken was cooked through, I added the chicken stock and brought it to a boil. Then added the bag of frozen broccoli and sundried tomatoes. I covered the pan allowing the broccoli to fully thaw out.

Once the broccoli was warmed through, I added the cream, salt and pepper and brought it up to a low boil. I added in part of the cheese at this time and stirred.

Finally, I added the pasta to the skillet and mixed it through – added the remaining parmesean cheese.

The only step left is to serve and enjoy!

Chicken and Broccoli Pasta with Cream Sauce

1 box penne pasta
2 chicken breasts, cubed
Cooking spray (I use avocado oil)
12 oz bag frozen broccoli
2 tbsp sundried tomatores, chopped
1 tbsp garlic
1/2 onion
1/2 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup chicken stock
1 tbsp umami seasoning
Salt and Pepper, to taste
1/2 cup grated parmesean cheese

  • Boil pasta as directed, until al dente
  • Finely chop onion
  • Chop sundried tomatoes
  • In lightly sprayed / oiled pan, cook onions and garlic until onions are translucent
  • Add chicken and umami seasoning to pan and cook until chicken is done
  • Add chicken stock, sundried tomatoes and broccoli to pan, bring up heat.
  • Once brocolli is no longer frozen, add in cream, salt and pepper (I use 1/2 tsp each) and bring temperature to a low boil.
  • Add al dente pasta to skillet and mix.
  • Add parmesean cheese and serve
by Michelle