Pesto Almost Fiasco

     Last night my mom asked me to cook what she had planned for dinner.  She was going to head straight to church after my little sisters ballet lesson so I had to cook for the family.  She said it was an easy recipe so I told my mom I would take care of it.  She told me the recipe would be fine for me to eat so I didn't have to modify it and off she went to ballet with my sister.
     I never use pesto so I did not know one of the base ingredients is cheese.  I went through the recipe for Penne Pesto with Chicken and just before I was about to add the pesto I checked the label out of habit.  It was a good thing I did!  Since the pesto was the last step, I took some of the pasta, chicken, and broccoli rabe from the large skillet and put it in a small one.  I then added the pesto to the large skillet and some leftover regular tomato sauce from the fridge to the small one.  Thankfully, the food was delicious anyways and thankfully, dairy free for me! :)

Here is the recipe for the Penne Pesto (or Sauce) with Chicken

• 1 large bunch broccoli rabe, trimmed slightly and cut into 1 1/2" pieces
• 1 box (16oz) penne pasta
• 3 tbs olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
• My family doubles the garlic in almost every recipe so I used 4
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 pkg (9oz) fully cooked grilled chicken strips cut into bite sized pieces.
• 1 container (7oz) basil pesto
• You can sub the pesto for a tomato sauce.  I'm not sure of the amount since I did just for my portion.  Add sauce until the pasta is lightly coated or more if you prefer more sauce and add a little extra olive oil.  Or you could make your own pesto.  I have found many recipes online.

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil.  Add broccoli rabe and cook 3 minutes.  
2. Scoop broccoli rabe into a colander with a slotted spoon to drain. 
3. Add pasta to the now empty pot of boiling water and cook for the time on the box of the pasta.
4. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add garlic and cook 2 minutes. Stir in braccoli rabe and cook for 3 more minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.
5. Drain pasta.  Stir chicken, pasta and pesto (or tomato sauce) into skillet.  Cook 2 minutes to heat through.  Serve warm.

Update- I recently found many pesto pastes are vegan.  They work well, but they are a little pricey.  We used two 2.8oz tubes of Amore Pesto Paste for this recipe and it was delicious!