Chicken With Creamy Bruschetta Pasta and Classic Spinach Salad

We’ve been busy, but we still have time to cook around here, and this is one of our new favorites.

Tim found this recipe. How, you might wonder? He was in Publix {our local grocery store} trying one of the many samples. He always stops to see what they’re cooking {so often that I’m sure they recognize him by now}, and most of the time it’s alright, but this one was fantastic. So, we grabbed the recipe and bought everything we needed.

First, we started with the salad…

Classic Spinach Salad

• 3 hard boiled eggs
• 1/2 cup Caesar salad dressing
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 bag baby spinach leaves (4-6 oz.)
• 2 or 3 plum tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons cooked bacon pieces
• 1 cup garlic croutons

Chop one egg finely, place in salad bowl; stir in salad dressing and pepper. Add spinach: toss until evenly coated. Chop remaining two eggs coarsely. Slice tomatoes thinly. Top salad with eggs, tomatoes, bacon, and croutons.

Chicken With Creamy Bruschetta Pasta

Ingredients

• 2-3 sprigs of basil
• 2 plum tomatoes
• 1 {8oz} package garlic/herb flavored spreadable cheese
• 1/2 cup milk
• 8 oz tomato trinity mix {fresh diced tomatoes, onions, bell peppers}
• 3 chicken fillets {about 1 1/2 lb}
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 8 oz dry linguini pasta

1. Fill a large saucepan half full of water. Cover and bring to a boil on high for pasta.
2. Chop basil leaves coarsely. Cut tomatoes in small pieces. Place cheese in medium bowl; whisk in milk until smooth. Stir in tomatoes, basil, and tomato trinity mix; set aside.
3. Preheat large saute pan on medium-high 2-3 minutes. Season both sides of chicken with salt. Place oil in pan; swirl to coat. Add chicken; cook 4-5 minutes on each side or until golden. Meanwhile, stir pasta into boiling water. Boil 10 minutes, cook until tender.
4. Reduce heat on chicken to medium; cover and cook 5 more minutes or until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.
5. Drain pasta. Remove chicken from heat; cut into 1/2 inch thick slices. Arrange chicken over pasta and top with cheese mixture.

I don’t think you can skip the spreadable cheese. It gave it the extra zing, and I just cut up my own peppers and onion. Then we had some fresh basil from our garden for the top. It’s not as hard as the recipe makes it sound.

Even the kids liked it, so it’s a keeper! It’s the kind of recipe that makes you feel like you went out for a nice dinner. Can’t beat that! I’m so glad I took a photo of it before it was put on the plates. Once something is served around here, Tim says the prayer, and it is gone in a flash…there’s no time for photos then.

I’ve been passing the recipe around, and now it’s your turn to try it. Let me know what you think!

Hop over to Jen at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam for Tasty Tuesday. You’ll find so many great recipes there every week.