Artichoke Heart Chicken Pasta

As you might have guessed, I'm a little of a food blog junkie and love to find new blogs to follow. It's such a great way to get fresh ideas and recipes and drool over delicious food. (I bet a lot of you are nodding your head in agreement right now. If so, I'm happy someone else understands my addiction.) Anyway, a friend of mine posted on Facebook a few weeks ago that she had helped her mom put together a post for her food blog. I had heard this friend rave on several separate occasions about how delicious and original her mom's cooking was, so I was sure to hop on over (i.e. click the link) and check it out. I've been seriously stalking it ever since because she's got some great ideas on how to cook with whole grains and incorporate them into your meals. Of course the recipe I'm sharing from there today isn't one with any of those with whole grains (baby steps, people!) but it is still delicious and somethings both my husband and I have enjoyed for both lunch and dinner. Plus, it's easy yet elegant, which is my favorite kind of recipe. The artichoke hearts and sun-dried tomatoes have a bright, fresh taste with the pasta, and it is easy to keep all the ingredients on hand as a whoops-I-forgot-to-pick-up-the-main-ingredient-for-dinner meal. (Which may or may not have happened to me recently.)

Artichoke Heart Chicken Pasta 

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked chicken (optional)
12 oz. of your favorite whole grain linguine or spaghetti
1 c. sun-dried tomatoes, chopped (I use dried sun-dried tomatoes, but oil-packed would work, too.)
1/4 c. olive oil, plus more to taste
1 1/2 c. artichoke hearts, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup fresh basil

Directions:

1. Start your pasta boiling in a large pot.

2. Put your sun-dried tomatoes, olive oil and artichoke hearts in a large saucepan and simmer together, stirring occasionally. (If using oil-packed tomatoes you can substitute some of the olive oil with some oil from the tomatoes for more flavor.)

3. When your pasta is done boiling, take your sun-dried tomato mixture off the heat and mix the chicken and pasta. Add basil and season to taste with salt and pepper, adding more olive oil as needed for flavor and to keep the noodles from sticking together.

4. Serve and enjoy!

Recipe source: Adapted from graincrazy.blogspot.com

Posted in: Main Dish