Monday, June 10, 2013

Chicken & Artichoke Pesto Pasta

I made this tonight and we really liked it.  I've combined a few recipes and some store ought shortcuts to make this really simple.

Ingredients:

1 chicken breast, sliced thinly 
1 small jar of marinated artichoke hearts (mine was 7.5 Oz) (I drained most if the liquid out)
2tsp. Minced garlic 
1 small jar of traditional pesto
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
3-4 tablespoons of sun dried tomatoes in oil
1/2 cup milk ( I used 2 %)
1-2 tablespoon of oil
Salt and pepper
2 tsp. Mrs. Dash original
1 tablespoon of dried minced onions
3/4 pound of angel hair pasta
1/2 cup of Texas pecans

Put pasta on to boil in well salted water.  Cook until just under al dente.

Put oil in a large medium high sauté pan.  Add chicken and salt and pepper the chicken.   Cook until about 3/4 done then add garlic and Mrs. Dash.  Continue to stir for about a minute then pour in the artichokes and sun dried tomatoes.  Continue stirring another 2 minutes.  Add the cooked pasta and stir.  Next, add half the pesto jar (or more if you want more) and stir until it is all covered and mixed well, stir in milk and cook another minute or two, stir in pecans.  Turn off the heat and then add in the cheese and stir.  Serve with a green salad and garlic bread. Serves 4 and could easily be doubled.




Sunday, June 9, 2013

Summer Learning Week 1...ART

For this summer's activities, I sat down with my son and we came up with a list of topics or themes that we will work on each week.  I plan to do a learning activity, a craft, and an away from the house activity each week that revolves around the theme for that week plus our weekly trips to the library will focus on the topic as well.  For week 1, we have Art as the topic and I am focusing mainly on painters.  I put together a slide show to show my son some of the different styles of art and so I thought I might share it here in case anyone else would like to follow what we are doing.  Our craft will be doing pointillism art or dot art painting with q-tips!  Some of the other themes for later weeks are Dinosaurs, African Animals, Sea Creatures, Transportation, Navigation, Cooking, and Building/Architecture.

If you would like a copy of the slide show, I am happy to send you the file, just leave a comment for me.

Thanks!

Happy Summer!

























Beautiful Basics

Life is about a journey, and you are the only one who can make yours... So, embrace life: the good, the bad, and the ugly...it is the only one you've got.

Here's to being Beautiful, inside and out!