{My Recipes} Lemon Garlic Pasta with Chicken

I really wanted a light, fresh pasta dinner the other night and came up with this delicious concoction of chicken, pasta, artichoke hearts, lemon juice and garlic. Yum! The quads loved it too and using the large wagon wheel pasta made it easy for them to pick it up with their little fingers.

2 large chicken breasts, cut in small pieces
1 package pasta, any kind will work
2 tbsp minced garlic
2 large lemons or 3 small ones
1/4 cup grated parmesan
1 cup marinated artichoke hearts, quartered
3 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for grilling
Freshly ground sea salt and pepper
Fresh or dried Italian seasonings

First I heated up my stovetop grill pan and wiped it down with some olive oil. I placed all my chicken on top and gave them a hearty sprinkling of salt and pepper. Once they were nearly ready to flip, I squeezed one whole lemon worth of juice on top, then turned the pieces and grilled the other side. While that was cooking, I brought a large pot of water to a boil then added my pasta and cooked to al dente.

Yup, that's me at the end of a busy day running after four kids
and now I'm over a hot grill cooking dinner. Sexy, I know. ;)

After I drained the pasta, I heated the 3 tbsp of olive oil, garlic, artichokes and a generous sprinkling of my dried Italian seasonings over medium heat. Once it was smelling really fragrant and delicious, I added the pasta and squeezed in the juice of the remaining lemons (you can add more or less lemon juice as desired). Next I mixed in the grilled chicken and topped it all with the Parmesan cheese and served with salad, steamed broccoli and garlic bread. A definite crowd pleaser!

Happy eating :)