Back From Boise Pasta

I credit the name to Gwyn. I wanted to BBQ some chicken and incorporate some pasta, but did not want to go to all of the effort of making a sauce or cooking a lot. This turned out to be really easy and tasty.

Prep Time: 5 Mins
Cook Time: 20 mins
Serving Size: 2-4 (easily scaled)

Approx. 1 pound Chicken (Either Chicken Breasts, or Chicken Tenders)
Seasoning and Spices for the Chicken (optional)
14 oz of your Favorite Pasta (one box)
Grated Parmasean Cheese
1/2 to 1 cup Creamy Caesar Dressing (could use light if you wanted)

Put a pot of water on the stove to heat up, add a little salt. Fire up the BBQ, start getting it warm.

The chicken does not need to be fancy, you are just going for bite sized pieces. When I was in the store, I had to buy 3 chicken breasts (which was too many) or a bunch of Chicken Tenders (cutlets, pieces... I don't know the technical term). Cut and/or clean the chicken as desired. As you will be grilling the chicken, try to get all of the pieces to be the same size to help with even cooking time. Season appropriately, I used a roasted garlic blend that was in the spice section at the store.

Mmmm... Chicken.

 Grill the chicken on medium heat for 8-20 minutes (depending on size and heat, and grilling skill).

Mmmm... Cooked Chicken.

While the chicken is grilling, put pasta in boiling water, cook as directed on package.

Mmmm... Pasta.

Take the cooked chicken off of the grill. Something about juice running clear, and firm feel, and white meat... Cut in to strips, roughly bite sized. When pasta is done cooking, drain well, and return to pot. Pour in Ceasr dressing and cheese. Stir so that all of the pasta is coated. Add chicken, stir if you want, or you can leave the chicken on top when serving.

So simple, so good.

I used whole wheat pasta, and served it with zucchini and Birch Beer! It was a great meal, esspecially the effort involved was minimal.

Final Product

 In the case you cannot or don't want to grill, you can cook the chicken in a fry pan just as easily.