Recipes

Sometimes I don’t know where my head goes. Honestly. In a trip to the grocery store to pick up a couple of ingredients I needed for this recipe, namely ziti and some Asiago cheese, I somehow came home with no ziti – literally, somewhere between getting in the car to go and buy ziti to make chicken, ziti, broccoli and getting to the store, located a long 2 minutes from my apartment, I forgot to buy the key ingredient. So we ended up with chicken, spaghetti, broccoli – doesn’t have the same catchy name, but still warm and delicious.  Think of it as a light lemony alfredo – yum.   On other quick note about this recipe, it is surprisingly a one pot meal and really easy to make.

Weight Watchers Chicken, Ziti, Broccoli...(well spaghetti)
Points: 6 weight watchers pointsplus
Servings: 6
Serving Size: about about 1 cup
Nutritional Info: 283.1 calories,  3.5 g of fat, 33.3 g of carbohydrates, 7.0 g of fiber 26.2 of protein

Ingredients
1/2 lb of high fiber pasta (I like Ronzoni Smart Taste)
1 lb of chicken breast, cut into small chunks
4-6 garlic cloves (I like mine with a lot of garlic)
1 diced onion
1 bunch of broccoli (just the tops) cut into pieces
1/2 cup of 2% milk
2.5 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup grated asiago cheese
1/2 tsp red pepper flake
1/2 tsp dried basil
juice of  1 lemon
salt and pepper to taste (I like a lot of freshly ground pepper)

Instructions
1. Season the chicken with salt and pepper.  Heat up the olive oil (and some extra cooking spray if needed) in a large saute pan and cook the chicken until it is lightly browned and just cooked.  Set aside in a separate bowl. Be careful not to overcook the chicken, a little underdone is ok, or the chicken will end up rubbery.

2. In the same saute pan, add the onion and cook for 5-7 minutes until it begins to become translucent.  Add the garlic and cook another minute or two until fragrant.

3. Add in whatever pasta you are using and 2 cups of the chicken broth, red pepper, and basil.  Bring to a boil and then simmer until the water is almost completely absorbed and pasta is close to cooked – about 8 minutes.

4. Add in the broccoli and the additional 1/2 cup of chicken broth.  Cover and let simmer for about 4 minutes until broccoli is bright green.

5. Add in the chicken, milk, cheese, and lemon juice.  Stir together and simmer for about 5 minutes until the sauce begins to thicken.  Turn off and let the pasta sit for 2-3 minutes longer so the sauce can continue to thicken.  Serve!