Easy and Healthy Pasta Skillet

I can NOT seem to remember to take pictures of anything these days.  Apparently once the holidays are over, I forget where the camera is!  So, you'll just have to trust me that this tasted good and looked pretty too.  This is a dish I seriously threw together.  I knew I wanted to have something with chicken and I knew we had some veggies sitting around that needed to be used and I knew that we had a ton of whole wheat pasta.  That is how I come up with meals a lot but this one got good reviews by the whole family so it was worth sharing.  (by the way, I don't measure much in my cooking, so these are guesstimates)

Easy Chicken and Veggie Pasta Skillet (serves approx. 4)

Ingredients:

2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

-1/2-2/3 box whole wheat rotini

-2 cans diced italian tomatoes

-1/2 pkg. sliced mushrooms

-1/2 green pepper diced

-1/2 onion diced

-1 can quartered artichoke hearts (drained)

-2 large handfuls of fresh spinach leaves, chopped

-1-2 cloves garlic ( or 1-2 tsp pre-minced in a jar)

-1 tsp dried basil

-1 tbsp olive oil

-fresh grated parmesan cheese

-Bring large pot of water to boil.  Add pasta, cook to pkg. directions.

-Heat olive oil in large skillet over med-high heat.  Add chicken and saute for a couple minutes each side until brown and nearly cooked through.  Add in onion and garlic, stir couple minutes.  Then, add in mushrooms, peppers and any other fresh veggie you have!  Let cook for a few minutes.

-Add in basil, artichokes and diced tomatoes.  Reduce heat to med. or med. low and allow to simmer for 10 min. or so. or until liquid is minimized.  Add in spinach with about 2 minutes left.

-You can now serve your chicken/veggie mixture over your pasta or dump your pasta into your skillet and mix it all together.  We do it both ways in this house.

-Serve it up with a little fresh parmesan on top and enjoy!!

Make sure to measure your pasta serving...wouldn't want to add extra pasta calories for no reason!

Yes, you can and should enjoy pasta, you just have to be mindful about what you put with it.  Whole wheat pastas are very healthy for you with lots of whole grains and sometimes other added vitamins, omegas etc.  They are dense in calories but one serving is pretty generous.  Just measure!  You can add all the veggies in the world you want.  This recipe doesn't even have actual sauce in it, just lots of veggie goodness (and chicken too)  I hope that you will try it and that you enjoy it.  Please let me know in the comments if you do try it.  I love to know what you think!

Here's to your health!