Spinach Pesto, but I forgot the Spinach!

The end result was still pretty good…

I have been making my way through Jillian’s Master Your Metabolism Cookbook and decided to try the Roasted Chicken with Whole Wheat Past and Spinach Pesto

I started with boiling the pasta and cutting/prepping the chicken. Then I went on to making the pesto. The ingredients were pretty straight forward, but I forgot the spinach! So we ended up with some walnut-parsley pesto.  The pesto was the most complicated part of this recipe but it was because of user error.

I could not find our food processor lid so I threw all the pesto ingredients in the blender and blended!

For the rest of the recipe I followed the directions and it turned out great! You have to watch the serving sizes when you serve her more carb heavy recipes. I split the dinners up into 6 servings. I gave my husband two servings, ate one myself and saved 3 for lunches later this week.

Delish! Have you ever modified a recipe by accident and have it still turn out? I am really loving her cookbook so far! I should of known I would love it!

Ingredients:

1 whole boneless, skinless chicken breast (3/4 to 1 pound)

1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Salt and Ground Pepper

2 bunches flat-leaf spinach (1 – 1 1/2 pounds total), trimmed

1 cup packed fresh parsley leaves

10 ounces whole wheat tubular pasta

1/4 cup (3/4 ounces) grated Parmesan Cheese

1/3 cup (1 1/4 ounces) walnuts, toasted (…I just used raw)

2 garlic cloves

2 teaspoons of tomato paste

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Prepare a large bowl of ice water.

In a small baking dish, drizzle 1 teaspoon of olive oil, 1/8 teaspoon of cinnamon with a pinch of salt and pepper. Sprinkle the cinnamon mixture over the chicken. Bake, uncovered for 15-20 minutes.

- The chicken recipe is great by its self and is awesome as a salad topper!

To prepare the pesto while the chicken is baking, stir the spinach and parsley into the boiling water, in batches if necessary. Cook until wilted and bright green about 30 seconds.  Immediately transfer the greens into the ice bath to stop the cooking. Repeat until all the spinach and parsley is wilted.  When completely cool, drain the greens well and transfer to a clean towel. Squeeze the towel to extract as much liquid as possible.

- I skipped this all together and just used raw ingredients.

Cook the pasta in the boiling water for 12-15 minutes. Reserve 1/2 the pasta cooking water; then drain the pasta and return it to the pot.

While the pasta is cooking add the spinach and parsley to the food processor. Add the walnuts, cheese, garlic, tomato paste, lemon zest, juice and remaining 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon. Process to a coarse paste. With the motor running, pour in the remaining 1/4 cup of olive oil and 1/4 cup of tap water. Process until smooth and creamy, about 1 – 2 minutes. Season with 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper.

Add the tomatoes and pesto to the pasta and toss. Divide the chicken breast into 2 halves and slice each one thinly. Divide into six portions.

Nutrition:

Calories: 450.3

Fat: 18.3 g

Protein: 22.7 g

Carbs: 517 g

Sodium: 430.8 mg

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