Pesto Chicken With Pasta

Last week I got together with some girlfriends for our monthly meal swap. We have called ourselves the Dinner Divas. Ha!

The weather last Monday night was unseasonably cool. It rained off and on but the host had a most lovely covered porch. We all enjoyed an evening on her porch with a refreshing and cool summer breeze, good conversation, yummy treats from a local favorite, and left at the end of the evening with five meals ready to feed our hungry families.

My meal this month was Pesto Chicken with Pasta. I love pesto. I love the versatility of the simple sauce. Pesto pairs well with chicken, fish, as a spread on pizza, and even sandwiches. I love the flavor of fresh home made basil.

Last week I got together with my Mother-In-Law to have a day in the kitchen with the kids. My daughter loves to cook and welcomes any opportunity to help out in the kitchen. She even wore her Chef hat for the occasion! We tackled several large batches of basil pesto and then set out for an adventure making arugula pesto. Arugula and I get along very well. I think I could eat it every day! I had heard that it could be used to make pesto and that was enough to make me want to give it a try.

As I started to search for recipes for the pesto sauces, I discovered that you can make pesto from a variety of ingredients, not just basil. I found recipes for pesto made with parsley and sunflower seeds, kale and walnuts, cilantro and pumpkin seeds, and cashews and arugula. Some of these variations sound rather interesting and I may try them in the future.

Any of the above mentioned varieties of pesto will work just fine for this simple supper. My recipe calls for grilled chicken. You can grill it up plain and then slice into thin slices. I leave my chicken plain for the kiddos and then lightly toss some in the pesto sauce for hubby and I. I like to use long noodles such a linguine or spaghetti but any shape of pasta will work. Again, I serve the chicken and pasta plain for the kids and for the adults, I coat the pasta and chicken with pesto. Add some fresh Parmesan cheese on the top and Yum!

You can find recipes for basil pesto all over. For this month's meal we used The Barefoot Contessa's recipe for basil pesto and Rachael Ray's recipe for Arugula Pesto. I added one secret ingredient for a signature touch to Rachael's recipe.

My freezer is filled with Chicken Teriyaki, Rotisserie Style Chicken, Asian Flank Steak, Spiced Pork Roast, and Ahn's Pork Chops. It's shaping up to be a delicious month!