A Keeper - Pasta with Chicken and Roasted Tomato Almond Pesto Sauce

The other day my husband sent me on a "hunt" for a red pasta sauce. We both love pasta but I have been cutting it out of our meal plans as it's so easy for me to eat more than one portion  of it - and when watching the calories it's sooo easy to add on to many of those with pasta dishes. Also,when buying marina sauces they usually come in  large containers which is more than we usually eat anyway. And I have not been really thinking about making a sauce from scratch.
My "hunt" started and I was determined to find a recipe with the ingredients we like, not to many special items to buy and still easy to make. And I found one on Eatingwell.com - again. I tested it first the other day with a small portion and knew immediately that my husband will love it as well. I made the sauce from scratch while preparing the spagetti and grilling some chicken. Including the frequent stops for taking the pictures for this blog I got the whole meal done in less than 30 minutes. And we both decided - this one is a keeper!

Roasted Tomato Almond Pesto Sauce
adapted from eatingwell.com

1 can 14.5 oz Fire Roasted Tomato sauce with Garlic
1/4 cup of sliced Almonds (bought in the bulkfood section- just a small amount)
1/4 cup of fresh basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon of red wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/2 teaspoon olive oil
1/4 cup fresh shredded parmesan cheese

1. Heat up a small pan and toast the almond slices for a couple minutes until they get slightly brown and you can smell them. Meanwhile open the can of tomatoes and drain them a bit.

2. Add the almonds in the food chopper or food processor and grind for a few seconds. Add the tomatoes, basil, red wine vinegar, olive oil  and crushed pepper and run the processor again. Last but not least add the parmesan cheese.

Either transfer the sauce into a small sauce pot to heat up or refrigerate.You can also freeze it- although I highly doubt that you will have leftover.

When preparing the whole meal  here the time saver tips and the order of steps:
additional ingredients you will need:
whole wheat pasta - 2 oz per serving
1 chicken breast per serving
salt and lemon pepper

1. Prepare the chicken- remove any fat and flatten the chicken breast (I use a meat mallet).
    Cut in smaller pieces. Salt and pepper.
2. Start to boil a pot of water for the pasta.You can omit the salt.
3. Prepare the sauce while water starts boiling. Add pasta to the water and set timer for 6-7 minutes.
4. Heat up some olive oil in a pan and add chicken. It takes about 5-6 minutes to get it done as the meat is small.
5. Drain Pasta. Heat up sauce.
6. Serve and enjoy.

By doing the sauce yourself you are not really adding much more time than using a store bought sauce.

Almond Crusted Chicken Fingers - Two For One in under 30 minutes - Part 1

I am sure everyone likes the "buy one, get one free" or "two for one" deals. So here is my deal.While spending less than 30 minutes in the kitchen you can create two meals. It started out with getting 3 pieces of chicken breast which ended up being huge... almost 2 pounds in total. I cut the pieces into 1 inch thick strips (no measurement tape required). So I figured I make one of our new favorites- Almond crusted chicken fingers. And while those are baking in the oven for 20 minutes just go for Chicken fajita preparation for tomorrow nights dinner.  The way I see it- dinner will be a snap tomorrow night and the chicken fingers are a great snack on Saturday for lunch or for a full dinner if served with some steakfries and broccoli.

Almond Crusted Chicken Fingers
adapted from Eatingwell.com
1-2 pieces of chicken breast, trimmed of fat and cut in strips
1 cup of raw almonds
1 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
Eggbeater or eggs
Cooking oil spray


1. Preheat oven to about 425 degrees. Prepare a baking sheet and layout with aluminium foil. Spray some Oil spray to avoid too much sticking later.

2. Trim any fat of the chicken and cut the pieces of chicken in strips.

3. In a small food processor grind up the almonds.Then add all the spices, mix again and  add the olive oil.
(You can mix up an egg instead- I just don't usually have egg in the fridge.)

4. Dip the chicken first in the egg beater, then in the almond mixture and place on the baking sheet.
Spray all pieces with a bit Cooking oil spray, it helps getting them crispy. Put the sheet in the oven and set time for 20 minutes.