Tonight's Culinary Feast

Tonight’s culinary feast is…Hamburger Helper.

 Only I would start a blog to highlight the food I make and eat, and then the next day make Hamburger Helper.  Probably not my best move, but at least I’m honest.

On a positive note, it’s probably better for my children than Mac N Cheese because of the added protein.

Yesterday I made a lemon-basil-cream pasta with chicken and broccoli.  That was delicious.  To make up for tonight, I’ll talk about yesterday’s food instead.

 I seasoned two chicken breasts with salt and pepper and then marinated them in olive oil, lemon juice and basil for about an hour.  Then I baked the chicken at 350 for 45 minutes.

 As I boiled the pasta (I used penne), I made the sauce.  Combine 2 tbs butter (real butter), 2 tbs olive oil, some cream (I would say about ¼ cup?), lemon juice (I used the juice of 1 whole lemon), 1 clove of garlic (minced), basil (I used about 8 leaves, chopped using a chiffonade technique), salt and pepper.  That’s it.  Oh, I also added just a ladle full of pasta water (which was seasoned with salt prior to dropping the pasta).

During the last minute and a half of the pasta boiling, I added my broccoli to the boiling water with this awesome ladle strainer thing.  It’s amazing.  I don’t know what it’s called and I don’t have a picture, but take my word for it, it’ AMAZING!

 

Once the pasta was done boiling, I drained it and added it to my sauce.  I cut the chicken and added it to the sauce and then added the broccoli.  And like that, it’s done.  Minus the cooking time for the chicken, this whole dinner takes maybe 15 minutes.

I also served it on a platter, just to feel fancy.  I think it made the food taste better J