Quick and Easy Pesto Chicken & Pasta

This is a quick and easy dish to prepare! I use a Vitamix blender to create the pesto sauce.

Ingredients

1 lb of chicken (tenders, cutlets, breasts)

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 grated parmesan cheese

1 1/4 tsp of minced garlic (I use the jar garlic)

**2 cups fresh sweet basil leaves

3 Tbl pine nuts

1 lb whole wheat pasta

**When fresh basil is not available, I use tube basil, and for 2 cups it takes about a tube to tube and a half.

Prepare Pesto:

Place all ingredients in blender in the order listed and secure lid. Select Variable 1, and slowly increase speed to Variable 7. Blend for 1 minute, pressing the ingredients into the blades. Yields 3/4 cup (enough to coat 1 lb of pasta).

Once blended, scrape the pesto from the blender and place in a small dish.

Cook pasta; while cooking pasta,

Dice chicken and trim off fat. Put a thin layer of olive oil in pan, with garlic to taste. Saute chicken until thoroughly cooked.

Drain & rinse pasta. Combine the pasta, cooked chicken and pesto sauce in a large bowl and mix well. Serve hot.

Suggested pairings:  Fresh garden salad with a light vinaigrette. A Primitivo wine is an excellent choice of beverage.

I do make my pesto sauce ahead of our planned sailing trips and keep it refrigerated. It will keep about 2 weeks.