Chicken Fettuccine...

Anyone that knows me knows that I'm a Food Network Junkie.. I love watching people mix ingredients together to produce this awesome dish- whether it's sweet or savory. This morning I was watching Rachel Ray, and she made a wonderful looking dish called Fettuccine with Garden Vegetables and Greens. The dish calls for eggplant and a type of lettuce on top of the pasta-- both of which are weird to me, so I left them out. This is what I did:

1 zucchini- cut into matchsticks or cubed
1 small onion- cut very thin
1 red pepper- cut into matchsticks or cubed
5 small cloves of garlic- if your cloves are big, only use 2-3
2 T of extra virgin olive oil
salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes
1 lb chicken breasts or tenders
12 ounce of fettuccine
Kraft Italian 5 Cheese Blend
Handful of basil leaves, julienned or shredded.

Boil and salt (2 tablespoons of salt in the water is fine) your water for the pasta. The recipe says to cook shy of al dente, but this didn't work for me-- so just cook it al dente (for fettuccine, it's about 12-13 minutes).

While your pasta is boiling, cook your chicken until cooked through and then remove. Use the oil leftover from the chicken and put all your veggies in a pan to saute them until they're tender, for about 12 minutes. Cook the veggies over a medium-low or medium heat. Add more oil IF you need to. Add your salt, pepper, and red peppers flakes to the veggies. Once the veggies are tender, add the chicken and warm through.

Once the pasta is done, reserve about a cup of the pasta water and drain the pasta. Add the pasta to the veggies and toss everything together, adding your pasta water. From there, add your basil leaves and your cheese. Continue tossing until the cheese is just melted and the basil have started to wilt.

Transfer to another bowl (if you want to, I just left mine in the pot) and finish topping with cheese and maybe a sprinkle more of extra virgin olive oil... and voila.

Some other ingredients you may add to the dish: mushrooms or alfredo sauce to be tossed until everything is lightly, evenly coated.

This dish, I thought, was really yummy... and thinking back now, I wish I would have taken pictures of it... but my stomach out-ruled my mind, and I didn't think about it. Take my word for it, though, it looked just as good as it tasted.

Bon Appetit!!!