To give or not to give...

A word on service. Ever since I was a little girl, I was taught a very simple rule on how to live my life. "Give whenever you can, and do not expect anything in return, give from your heart and give with love"- and those words have stuck in my soul until today. With that in mind I will share with you one of my favorite recipes that is a crowd pleaser and that I have only shared with my mom because I did not want to let anyone else know how to do it. I encourage you to make this for dinner parties because it somehow multiplies itself miraculously and trust me, there will be no left overs!

The recipe is Chicken Alfredo and no, it is not your usual alfredo and it has partial store bought ingredients to make it faster and easier. First a couple tips that will help you give this dish extra flavor and beautiful colors.

Pasta: tri-color rotini is my recommendation. When boiling it, make sure you use plenty of water and a big pot. MUST SALT WATER when boiling before you add the pasta and be generous, do not be afraid. The pasta will absorb the salt in all the right places. Also, do not overcook the pasta...and you are probably thinking how to heck does it get "al-dente" well, that depends on the amount of pasta. Al-dente simply means firm but not hard. In order to achieve this, if you are using a 12 ounce tri-color pasta box, boil for 7-8 minutes and that's it.

Chicken: if you like crispy brown  juicy chicken for this recipe do this extra step. After cubing your chicken breasts, heat a little olive oil and butter on high heat on a shallow pan. Place the chicken inside but do not overcrowd. Do not touch, let it "sizzle" just about 2-3 minutes, turn to brown all sides and put on a separate plate. ***The chicken will not be cooked fully so do not taste!*** Once done with all the chicken save that pan for the vegetable portion of this recipe. Why??? because the leftover chicken goodness will give the veggies another level of flavor.

Veggies: My preference for this dish is portabella mushrooms, red bell peppers and asparagus. However, I know not everyone likes those, so feel free to experiment.

What you need:
1 box of 12 oz tri color rotini pasta
1/2 red bell pepper, cubbed into small pieces
1 c portabella mushrooms chopped (do not wash, clean with damp paper towel)
1/2 c asparagus, chopped
1 bottle of bertolli alfredo sauce
1/2 c of bertolli tomato & basil sauce
2-3 chicken breasts (depending on size and on how much meat you want)
Parmesan cheese
salt, pepper, butter

How to make it:
Brown the chicken first and set aside. In that same pan add a little extra olive oil and butter, add the tomato & basil sauce, then the asparagus and stir for 7 minutes on med-high heat. Then add the red bell peppers, stir for another 3 minutes, and last add the mushrooms. You will see that the mushrooms will soften and turn a dark brown- that means they are done. Add the chicken and stir for about 4 minutes. Once this is done take of the heat and set aside. Boil the pasta, and add to the vegetable and chicken mixture and put back on the stove on med high heat. Add the alfredo sauce and stir. (add water to the sauce jar, shake and  pour into pasta, don't worry it will be absorbed). Add salt and pepper to taste. Turn off the stove, and to finish add plenty of parmesan cheese. If you are not serving this right away, when you re-heat it add a little milk. The longer the pasta sits the more it will absorb the sauce and the milk will help loosen the pasta.

You can serve this with a simple spring mix salad, and some garlic bread. Also, you can substitute the chicken for shrimp (skip the browning part of course). Enjoy!!! 

"Remember that the happiest people are not those getting more, but those giving more"
                   ~ H.Jackson Brown, Jr.