chicken penne pasta pesto

Pesto sauce is a sauce made from basil leaves, and penne pasta is a tube shaped noodle with pointed angled ends. Chicken pesto is one of my favorite foods, but I don't make it often because fresh basil and pine nuts are rather expensive compared to a can of spaghetti sauce or some Parmesan cheese to make a white sauce.

• 2 C cooked chicken

• 4 C uncooked pesto pasta

• 1/4 C olive oil

• 1/2 C pine nuts

• 2 C firmly packed basil leaves

• 1/2 C Parmesan cheese

• 3-5 garlic cloves

• several shakes salt

• several shakes pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 375.

2. Line a cookie sheet with foil. Spray with no-stick spray and place the boneless skinless chicken breasts on the sheet. A package of approximately .75 lb chicken should equal around 2 cups cooked chicken. Bake the chicken in the oven until done, around 20 to 30 minutes. Check doneness by slicing the meat. The chicken is done when the juices run clear and the center of the meat is white.

3. Rinse off the basil leaves. Discard any cruddy ones. Pick the leaves off the stems to make 2 firmly packed cups of leaves. Approximately 3 bunches of basil makes 2 firmly packed cups of leaves.

4. Cook the pasta according to directions.

5. Food process the basil, garlic, pine nuts, Parmesan cheese, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Make sure the pesto sauce is thoroughly food processed, scraping the sides as needed.

6. Chop the chicken into bite size pieces.

7. Combine the chicken, noodles, and pesto sauce in a baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil and bake 20 minutes to combine the tastes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

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