Skinny Bitch Wins Again - Penne with Pine Nuts, Red Pepper, Basil, and Shrimp

photo from theKitchn

It seems I keep surprising myself in the kitchen. Last night, I went to make my red pepper and shrimp pasta that has now become a standard in my repertoire and realized I had no sauce. None. Nor did I have much else to work with in the fridge beyond the ingredients for the pasta I now apparently could not make. And within the seconds that I went to reach for my phone to call for sushi delivery I realized I had a few lemons in the fridge, and some balsamic in the cupboard, and I thought that maybe, just maybe, I could still make something tasty, albeit much more healthy than intended.

And so I improvised, and low and behold, it worked (this obviously still shocks me to my core). I took my other “recipe” of shrimp, basil, red pepper, and mozzarella, then added pine nuts for texture (getting all kinds of fancy), threw in an extra clove or two of garlic, lemon juice, and balsamic and basically made the skinny bitch version of my other dish. I sauteed the shrimp, red peppers, pine nuts, and basil all together in a pan. Then I added the cooked pasta to the pan, drizzled it all with balsamic, squeezed a lemon’s worth of juice into the pan, topped it off with mozzarella, and voila! Sprinkle a little parm (okay, a lot) on top and this is what you get:

Delicious! And shockingly healthy

Also, pepper. Lots of pepper for extra flavor.

I mean, it’s almost like I know what I’m doing! That being said, I do believe it’s time I experimented with some chicken or some red meat sometime soon. For some reason, fish does not intimidate me but chicken and red meat do. Even though everyone I speak with says chicken is probably the easiest thing to cook…I am skeptical. I also have no real idea how to make chicken in a way that doesn’t bore me to tears.

Anyone have any favorite chicken recipes? Something with a lot of flavor but that doesn’t demand too much “skill” in the kitchen? Please share if you do!

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