Recipe #1: Chicken Pasta Primavera

Hello ladies and gents!  Here's my first recipe for chicken pasta primavera.

Prep time: 10 min

Cook time: 20 min

Ingredients:

2 boneless chicken breasts, cubed

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 3/4 cup chicken broth (I used this chicken broth)

1/2 cup white wine (I used a chardonnay)

1 bag of frozen California vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, and carrot mix)

1 bag of frozen peas

2 tablespoons of chopped parsley

1/8 cup chopped white onion

salt and pepper to taste

1 box of pasta (I used linguine)

oil (I used vegetable oil but you could use olive oil as well)

Preparation:

Defrost and cube the chicken breasts.  Fill a pot with water for the pasta.  Make sure you have all the ingredients handy.

Cooking:

Put about a tablespoon of oil in a large skillet (a pan that looks like this) along with the garlic.  Turn the burner on high.  Once the garlic starts popping, add the chicken and salt and pepper it.  Stir the chicken around and flip it over to make sure that you cook all sides of the chicken.  When you're stirring the chicken, turn the water on to boil.  Once you can't see any pink in the chicken, add the chicken broth, wine, veggies, and parsley.  Add a little salt and pepper.  Turn that down to medium heat and let it simmer until all of the veggies are cooked.  Make sure to stir it every once in a while to ensure that it doesn't stick.  When you see that the water has boiled, follow the cooking directions on the pasta box.  Don't forget to add about a teaspoon of salt to the water.  Drain the pasta when it's done.

Side note: If you feel like you want a thicker sauce like I did, make a roux.  Get a small dish or cup (I use a coffee cup).  Put a heaping teaspoon of flower in the dish and add a tiny bit of water.  Mix it with a fork until it becomes pasty and there are no lumps (you can add more water as needed, but you want it as pasty as you can get it).  Pour it into the skillet and mix that all together.  That should help thicken it up.

Pros of this recipe:

1. Quickness.  The entire meal was done in less than half an hour.  It will take longer if you need to prepare the broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots yourself, but no more than an extra 10 minutes.
2. Taste.  This dish is full of flavor from the white wine and garlic, but you also get the flavor of the veggies and chicken.  It tastes really yummy.
3. Amount.  This recipe makes enough for about 6 people to eat, and it stays well in the fridge.  You can have it for a few days and make lunch portions to take to work.
4. Veggies!  This dish is a great way to get some green veggies in a way that isn't boring.

Cons of this recipe:

1. If you don't like salty dishes, don't use quite as much as I said in the recipe.  You can leave the salt out of everything but the pasta.