Pesto Pasta with Chicken

This is (yet another) quick and easy meal that I like to cook during the week when I'm too tired to spend hours in the kitchen. You can make your own pesto, but the kind I buy in the jar is great and saves alot of time and dirty dishes! Any pasta would be good with this, but I like Pene b/c it's holds the sauce well.

What You'll Need:

2 Tbsp. Oil

1 lb. Chicken (breasts or tenders), cut into medium sized chunks
Mini Pene Pasta (I used about 1/2 a box)
1 Jar Pesto

What You'll Do:

Heat oil in a large skillet.

Boil pasta to al dente in salted water.

Cook chicken in the oil until no longer pink.

Add 1-2 Tbsp. of the pesto to the chicken. Stir and cook over low heat for a couple of minutes.

Drain pasta and add to the chicken. Stir and let everything cook together for a few minutes.

Crispy Sauteed Potatoes with Rosemary

I'm always trying to find new things to do with potatoes, and these were really good. The funny thing is that once I tasted them, I realized that I grew up eating potatoes cooked this way. My mom used to make them all the time. She would always serve them with pinto beans, turnip greens, and cornbread...a true Southern country dinner. I served them with grilled porkchops and they worked just as well!

What You'll Need:

1-2 lbs. red or white potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes

1/4 cup olive oil
2 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary or 1/2 tsp. dried rosemary

1 tsp. minced garlic

Salt and Pepper to taste

What You'll Do:

Place potatoes in a pot of salted water, bring to a boil, and simmer until nearly tender (about 10 minutes). Drain.

Heat oil over med-high heat in a large non-stick skillet for 3-4 minutes.

Cook potatoes in the oil, tossing from time to time, until they are nicely browned all over (about 15 minutes).

Add the rosemary and garlic and cook for 5 more minutes.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Omelet...My Way

When I'm really hungry in the morning, nothing satisfies me like an omelet. Also perfect for weekend mornings when you get to sleep in and be lazy after breakfast! Of course, you can put anything you like in your omelet, but this is how I like mine. I think the only difficult part to making an omelet is learning how to manuever the pan so that all the egg cooks, yet stays together. I think the only way to get this down pat is to practice it alot. I was so excited when I learned to flip the omelet over in the pan just by using a swift flip of the wrist! But, even if it doesn't look perfect when it's done (and you can see from the picture that mine tore a little too) it's okay....it'll still taste great!

What You'll Need:

2 Eggs
1 Tbsp. Butter
Salt & Pepper

Shredded Cheddar

Roasted Red Peppers
Bacon, crumbled (or bacon bits)

Capers

(Mushrooms are also great, but I didn't have any)

What You'll Do:

In a bowl, wisk the eggs with some salt and pepper.

Melt the butter in an omelet pan.
Pour the eggs into the pan and let set on the bottom for several seconds. I like to use a rubber spatula to lift and push the eggs around a bit, allowing the uncooked egg on the top to run to the sides and bottom.

Once all the eggs look cooked, put the cheese, bacon, peppers, and capers in a small pile on one side of the omelet.

Fold over the other side on top of the ingredients.

Let cook for a few seconds while the cheese begins to melt and everything gets warm.

Using a quick, swift flip of your wrist, flip the omelet over so that the other side can cook for a few more seconds (or just turn it over with your spatula!)