Cheese makes it better.

Original Recipe day! YAY!

So it was the end of the month and I had pretty much depleted our budget for groceries this month. So I started thinking about what we had in the pantry as well as the fridge. and this is what I came up this....

“It really got my goat” Pasta

Sauce:

1 tablespoon olive oil

½ cup red onion, finely chopped

½ cup mushrooms , finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup dry white wine

1 cup pesto

1 cup spinach

Chicken: (Leave out and double Vegetables for Vegetarian version) 

2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded 

Salt and Pepper to flavor

1 tablespoon olive oil

Pasta:

2 cups uncooked pasta, whole grain

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

Well Salted Water

Garnish:

4 oz goat cheese

Method:

Put 1 tablespoon of the extra virgin olive oil into a skillet over medium heat. Cook onions, garlic, and mushrooms until soft. Add wine and cook until sauce is reduced by half, or about 5 minutes. Add pesto then stir until warm.  Take off heat and set aside.

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil into a pan, salt and pepper chicken, then add to pan, cooking thoroughly until chicken is browned on both sides, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and shred with 2 forks. Wilt spinach in the pan the chicken was cooked in. Add shredded chicken to spinach to keep warm.

Heat a pot with boiling salt water with a dash of olive oil to keep pasta from sticking. Once water is boiling, add pasta and cook until soft (depending on pasta 10 – 20 minutes). Once pasta is drained, toss with shredded chicken and spinach in pesto sauce. Crumble goat cheese in while tossing. Goat cheese should melt slightly. 

So when I made this i didn't end up shredding the chick and instead just put it on top.

I later spiced up some leftovers with some tomatoes and sausage (from the jambalaya).

Both versions of this.....SPECTACULAR.

While the Pesto bumps it up a bit, the goat cheese puts it at a whole other level. This was good as left overs as well as fresh and the thin whole grain pasta was very nice, though I'd love to make this is a penne.

Also, during let's not spend money the last week of this month week, I was blessed with a few bunches of flowers from a wedding that occurred at our church. Having never really had the chance to play with floral arrangement (save for Best friend's wedding with dried flowers) I was very pleasantly surprise with how my arrangement turned out. 

Until the next meal...

**Today's title comes from Bertolt Brecht: Life is great. Cheese makes it better.**