Dinner on the Porch? Tomato Basil Rotini

Music: B.o.B

Drink: None - I’m too busy chopping!

Never have I wanted an herb garden more than I do right now. The smell of basil is just one of those beautiful scents… Like vanilla or garlic... it’s just something I love smelling when I cook. This recipe is just clean, light, delicious and has basil, tomatoes and cheese! An Italian girl’s favorite (yes, I am pulling the 1/6^th part Italian ancestry card right now…) combination!  

Now embarrassingly enough this is the first time I have purchased fresh parmesan cheese to add instead of that processed garbage… holy crap.. what was I THINKING?! (I know what you are thinking, “How can she even consider herself Italian? I bet she likes Ragu too…” Well I do and I USED to! I’ve since seen the light!)

I have cooked recipes like this (but found this one here) about a billion times in the past, but the fresh ingredients made it light, very un-pasta-coma-like, and crisp, not salty or sticky. Totally worth the extra trip to the supermarket..

Note: You should totally add chicken for protein if you have some precooked, or if you have time to bake it… unfortunately I didn’t budget enough time and ended up making a delicious vegetarian dish :D When eating clean, you should always strive to combine lean proteins with complex carbohydrates…

So major take-aways:

1.       Use fresh basil

2.       Use fresh parmesan cheese

3.       Find a 25^th hour in the day, or con your job into letting you work 6 hours for the price of 8…

4.       That cliché about fresh ingredients being the key to a successful dish… totally true

Ingredients

×          1/3 lb uncooked whole wheat rotini (or other curly pasta)

×          1 medium onion, chopped finely

×          1 bell pepper, chopped finely

×          3-4 cloves of garlic, pressed or chopped

×          8 crimini mushrooms, sliced

×          1 tablespoon grapeseed oil

×          1 container cherry tomatoes, halved

×          1 cup fresh basil

×          ½ cup fresh parmesan

×          ½ tablespoon garlic salt

×          (4 cooked chicken breasts, chopped or pulled)

Major Instruments

×          Large pot

×          Large non-stick skillet

Instructions

1.       Cook pasta

2.       (Cook chicken if applicable)

3.       Set burner to medium and using the large skillet, cook onion, pepper, garlic, mushrooms, oil until soft, about 7-10 minutes

4.       Add tomatoes and basil to skillet and cook for another 3-5 minutes, until tomato skins are tender

5.       Fold in pasta along with cheese and garlic salt

6.       (if using chicken, fold this in after previous step)

7.       Top with a light sprinkle of parmesan cheese and eat outdoors by candlelight if at all possible