Hey everyone!  Hope the beginning of your week is turning out great so far!  As I mentioned yesterday, I’ve got a very special guest post today!  Her name is Tiffany and she has an awesome blog called The Gracious Pantry.  She is a foodie and the great part is, all her recipes use whole food!  She understand how clean eating has huge benefits.  She’s also lost 40lbs since she’s started her clean eating journey!  She definitely has many great recipes from what I’ve seen and I’m very happy to have her do a guest post!  I drool at all her pictures, she has great photography skills!

Tiffany’s story behind the recipe:

This pasta recipe was given to me by my Mom. And don’t Mom’s always make the best dishes? That’s been my experience anyway. Nobody can cook like my mom (or bake for that matter). The woman is a genius in the kitchen. I annoy her constantly with cooking questions and she always has an answer for me. There’s just nothing the woman doesn’t know.

Funny how we don’t realize that until we get somewhere in our 30’s, isn’t it? I mean, there’s such a huge part of our young lives where Mom just doesn’t know a darn thing. Then one day, you hit your 30’s, and suddenly you can’t make a single decision without her. And of course, you don’t want to admit it because you’ve spent so many years telling her she has no idea what she’s talking about. Oh boy. Thank goodness Mom’s are forgiving.

So here’s my Mom’s fabulous pasta recipe. I just know you’re gonna love it.

Clean Eating Chicken Vegetable Pasta

(Makes approximately 6 servings)

Ingredients
1 medium onion, diced fine
3 cloves garlic, diced fine
1 green bell pepper, diced fine
6 large crimini mushrooms, diced fine
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup fresh basil, chopped
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese + some for sprinkling
1 tbsp. olive oil
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, baked and cut into bite-sized pieces
1-2 tsp. garlic powder (stick to 1 tsp. if you have to talk to somebody
the next day)
1/2 pound whole wheat rigattoni, cooked

Directions

Step 1 – Cook pasta according to package directions.

Step 2 – In a large skillet, sauté the onion, garlic, bell pepper and
mushrooms over low heat until soft. Cook this slowly so that the vegetables
will release their juices. Otherwise, 1 tbsp. of olive oil won’t be enough.
It’s okay to get the pan hot over high heat, but then sauté over low heat.
Be patient. It’s worth it.

Step 3 – Once the vegetable mixture is sautéed and soft, fold in the
tomatoes and basil. Cook until the tomatoes just barely start to wilt.

Step 4 – Add your pasta to the pan mixture and then the garlic powder and
parmesan cheese. Stir well.

Step 5 – Stir in your chicken and serve.

-Tiffany McCauley publishes The Gracious Pantry.  A blog dedicated to Clean Eating Recipes.

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Hope you enjoy the recipe!  Be sure to check out her site!  She is also on Facebook and Twitter too. I’m a fan!  Thanks again Tiffany!

xo Kristine