Recipe Swap: Chicken Pesto Pasta

It's June 1st!!! And Recipe Swap Friday! Woot woot! It's so nice, twice a month to have a meal decided for me, and all I have to do is assign it a night in the kitchen. Almost makes me wish that someone could tell me what to make every night.

Almost, I said.

I love looking for new recipes too much to relinquish control to someone else.

For this round of the Swap, Sarah chose Noodles for the theme. Any recipe that included noodles. Uh, YUM! I don't have a huge aresenal of pasta recipes on here, so I welcome the addition. And the recipe I got from Ashley was, once again, a hit! Chicken, cute little pasta, pesto and CRAISINS!! I'm crazy for Craisins. For real y'all. The pesto sauce was creamy and the sweetness from the Craisins was just perfect! I had it for lunch and dinner! And let's be honest...lunch again. It was super good. Thanks Ashley for another great recipe. If you haven't had the chance to read Ashley's blog, Cheese Curd in Paradise, you should stop by...she has a lot of great stuff!

And don't forget to check Sarah's blog next week for the round-up of all the great Noodle Swap recipes!

Chicken Pesto Pasta Salad

Source: Cheese Curd in Paradise

Ingredients

• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 cup diced celery
• 3 Tbsp sliced green onions
• 3/4 cup craisins
• 2 oz pine nuts
• 12 oz short pasta (I used farfalle) 
• 4 Tbsp prepared pesto
• 1 cup reduced fat mayo (or miracle whip)
• 1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt

 

Preparation

1. Cook and drain your pasta according to package the directions.
2. While pasta is cooking, season both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and cook the chicken about 3 minutes per side, until no longer pink in the center. Remove from the heat and allow the chicken to cool.
3. While the chicken is cooling combine the celery, onion, craisins, and pine nuts in a small bowl, and set aside. In another bowl  combine the mayo, sour cream, salt, pepper, and pesto.
4. When the chicken has cooled, chop or shred into bite size pieces. Combine the chicken, celery mixture, and pesto mixture together, until fully incorporated, then add the pasta.  
5. Can be served immediately, or refrigerated and served cold.