My husband and I try to eat fairly healthy. We allow ourselves to indulge in our guilty pleasures, but we balance our indulgences with nutrition-packed choices as well. One of my guilty pleasures is pasta. yummy. The following is my recipe for a broccoli pesto pasta with chicken. If you’d like to make it gluten free, I’m sure it would be great with quinoa as well!

Ingredients:

2-4 Chicken Breasts, cubed. (My runner man loves extra protein, so I opt for 4)

1/2 cup of nuts. I use slivered almonds but you can really use anything you have on hand. Pine nuts and walnuts also work really well

2 cups of steamed broccoli florets

1 box of whole wheat pasta (penne or rotini work best)

SPICE- this is going to vary based on your liking. I’ve used either one can of green chilies, or one jalepano, deseeded. You could skip it altogether for no kick, or leave the seeds in for a hotter option.

1/4 cup EVOO

1/4 cup parmesan cheese (or whatever you have on hand)

2 garlic cloves

Directions:

1. Boil pasta. In a separate pan, season chicken with salt and pepper to taste, and cook until no longer pink.

2. Once pasta is cooked, add a couple table spoons of pasta water to chicken. Drain rest of pasta and return to pot. Add chicken (with water) to pasta and toss. Cover and set aside.

3. Combine nuts, pepper, garlic, and cheese in a food processor. Mix well. Add HOT broccoli, olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix well. if your mixture seems too thick, add a little extra EVOO or pasta water.

4. Spoon broccoli mixture into pasta/chicken mixture and toss well

ENJOY!!