i want a casserole.

yesterday, i asked marshall what he wanted for dinner last night and his reply was, “i want a casserole.”  i love that guy.  who says that? my husband, that’s who. 

i wanted to use on-hand ingredients but i also wanted to come up with something new.  this is what i had on-hand:

• chicken breasts
• broccoli
• garlic
• spinach & artichoke hummus
• homemade pesto
• parmesan cheese
• greek yogurt
• various seasonings

i thought i could whip up some sort of garlic parmesan pesto chicken casserole. i know, what a long name, right?!  i should work on shortening that.  i stopped by the store on my way home from my niece’s soccer game (which was awesome, by the way, she is 4 years old and cute as a button) and i picked up the following:

• whole wheat farfalle (that is bow tie pasta, FYI)
• 6 oz jar of artichoke hearts
• one packet of simply organic pesto sauce

that is all i needed to create marshall’s requested casserole! i also snagged a small loaf of whole grain bread from the bakery to make some garlic bread.

garlic parmesan pesto chicken casserole

ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts, diced
• salt, pepper, dried basil & dried oregano (to taste)
• ~2 cups roughly chopped broccoli, steamed
• 6 ounces chopped artichoke hearts
• 2 TB basil pesto, homemade or jarred
• 1/4 cup hummus (i used spinach artichoke sabra)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/4 cup greek yogurt
• 1 packet pesto sauce (plus the 1/4 cup olive oil and 1/2 cup water needed to prepare)
• 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
• ~3 cups cooked pasta (any shape is fine, i used whole wheat farfalle)

directions:

put a pot of water on to boil. once boiling, cook pasta al dente and set aside.

dice chicken and season with salt, pepper, basil & oregano. cook in sauté pan.

 

once the chicken is cooked through, let it cool a bit.  dice the cooled chicken up into very small pieces, as shown below.

dice the artichoke hearts and steam the broccoli.

in a bowl, combine chicken, broccoli and artichokes.   

add 2 TB pesto. mix well.

prepare the pesto sauce according to package.

when it is done, add your greek yogurt to the sauce.

 

add noodles, 1/2 cup of the parmesan, the pesto yogurt sauce, hummus and garlic to the bowl.  mix well.

put mixture into a casserole dish.

top with remaining 1/2 cup parmesan cheese.  cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until warmed through. for the last 5 minutes, take off the foil so the cheese can get golden brown.

 

serve with a side of garlic bread and enjoy!

this was really delicious! marshall liked it, too.  sometimes i forget that you can use a starch other than rice in casseroles. noodles, potatoes and other grains work just as fabulously!

the best thing about casseroles are they are better the next day, don’t you agree? today for lunch, i ate some leftover casserole mixed with 1/2 cup of cottage cheese for added protein.  it was soooo delicious.  and then i ate two cookies. because cookies make things better.

yeah, i have been eating cookies to feel better and i will be honest and say i haven’t worked out in a week. i have had some personal and emotional things going on in my world that aren’t blog-appropriate but they have led to day after day of non existent workouts and cookie baking and eating. hope to get back into the swing of things soon so i can ramble about some moves!

Qs~

1. what foods do you think taste better the next day?

2. i need some inspiration and motivation.. what was your most recent workout?

xo. janetha g.

Tagged as: casserole, italian, pasta, pesto, recipe