Recipe: tricolor pasta with veggies and chicken

Usually pasta dishes are super simple, and this one was, but for some reason, it took me forever to get all the veggies ready. I am sure there are people who are quicker in the kitchen who could get it done in no time.

Ingredients:

1 package of tri color spiral pasta

1/2 bag of frozen broccoli

2 cups of chopped kale

1 cup of mushrooms

1 yellow pepper

1 zucchini

1 jar of low sodium tomato sauce

1 chicken breast

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Meanwhile, chop your zucchini and pepper and put it in tinfoil with a little bit of salt and olive oil.

Seal up the foil and cook for about 45 minutes. When this is complete, open the bag and broil for 10 minutes. It should look like this or more browned (I got impatient).

2. Cook tri-color spirals as indicated on box. The last 5 minutes of cooking, add the frozen broccoli to the cooking water. Drain, and put back in the pot with half of the jar of tomato sauce. Add the pepper/zucchini mix.

*Note* I used dehydrated shiitake mushrooms since I have a big jar of them. I added them to the cooking water as well. If you are using fresh mushrooms, I recommend adding them to the zucchini/pepper mix.

3. While the oven is on 400, cook a chicken breast for about 25 minutes. I didn't marinate it, but cooked it with salt and other dried herbs.

The chicken won't be cooked through. In a small saucepan, cook the other half of the tomato sauce on medium heat. (I also added a bit of water). Cut up the chicken into bite sized pieces and add into the tomato sauce. Cook for ten minutes on medium. Add to pasta mix.

4. Steam your kale (you can do this in the microwave by putting it in tupperware with a tiny bit of water and sealing with saran wrap. It takes about 2-3 minutes in the microwave. Chop it up really small and add it in. 

5. Stir it all up, and serve yourself a bowl!

This pasta is FILLED with veggies, and everything is bite sized, so you are getting in a lot of nutrients, as well as eating less calories per bite because of the volume the veggies take up. Enjoy!