Pasta with Sun Dried Tomatoes in Olive Oil and Spices

My Husband and unico hijo went to the grocery store to buy some milk but came home with extra stuff including the take and bake home garlic bread. I asked about the garlic bread, responsed was "I'm craving for it". Garlic bread only means we are having pasta. We already had some pasta last week so thinking perhaps we have some left over ingredients to cook another pasta dish.

Went on a scavenging hunt for pasta dish ingredients and for some reason I'm getting lucky lately, why? Well, everytime I think of something to cook I didnt have to go out and drive just for a few ingredients ( Gotta save some gas!!! ).

Wanted to cook something refreshing and light in sauce like the penne pasta with pesto.

My scavenging hunt started in our fridge and when I opened it, infront of me, as if staring is a jar of sun dried tomatoes and a jar of marinated artichokes that I have been using for turkey sandwhich ( I'll be posting a turkey sandwhich with sun dried tomatoes and marinated artichokes next time). Found some left over grilled chicken breast, butter, shaved parmesan and flat leaves parsley too. Next went in our pantry and found different kind of pasta; medium shell pasta, manicotti, linguini, spaghetti, elbow and farfalle. I was thinking of using the farfalle but that is my unico hijo's favorite shape pasta so its a no no. I could use that for emergency meal for him. Decision, decision... decided with the shell pasta. Found some italian seasoning too. Italian seasoning is a combination or a blend of seven herbs that gives the authentic italian flavor to any dishes. It consist of marjoram, thyme, rosemary, savory, sage, oregano and basil.

My ingredients scavenging hunt for a pasta dish was successful. Found everything I needed.

But I have sun dried tomatoes and artichokes , now do I use the marinated artichokes or the sun dried tomatoes? Can't use both. Hmmm light, summery, sweet, tangy..definitely and no question about it, sun dried tomatoes it is ! Yummmm, I could almost smell, see and taste it. I could definitely tell I'll have another delicious pasta dish.

So Pasta with Sun dried tomatoes in olive oil and spices it is.

Below is the recipe for my Pasta with Sun Dried Tomatoes in Olive Oil and Spices.

Cooked the pasta "al dente" and drained. Save about 3/4 cup of the water from the pasta and just mixed all the ingredients. Salt and pepper to taste if needed.

And voila... Pasta with Sun dried tomatoes prepared on our "meza" or table, including the garlic bread that my husband bought and some green salad on the side...bringing a taste of italy once again on our "meza".

Penne Pasta with Lemon Herb Chicken in Pesto Sauce

We have some left over, well actually almost the whole Lemon Herb Chicken that we bought in our local deli ? Why? Well the first time we bought it and tried it, it was juicy,tasty and just simply delicious and between the three of us we were able to finish it. But when I bought it last for some reason it was dry although it still have the lemon and herb taste that we love its not what we've expected. And so my husband and son both have just a few slices of it and decided to finish the left over "torta".


I dont like wasting food and so instead of just leaving it in the fridge for a few days then later on throwing it away, right after we had that very meal, I've decided to recook it. Went to our pantry, there are different kind of pasta,pasta sauce, dried herb and so on. Went to our fridge, we still have plenty of the shaved parmesan cheese and some italian parsley leaves from the last time I made some chicken carbonara and some left over of pesto that I've put in our french baquette bread. Instead of garlic bread, we had some pesto bread that day. So I was like hmm I think for dinner we'll have a taste of Italy, I'll make some Penne Pasta with Lemon Herb chicken in Pesto Sauce.

I've gathered all the ingredients; penne pasta, my italian seasoning, italian parsley, shaved parmesan cheese,butter, pesto sauce and I've flaked the Lemon Herb Chicken.


Cooked the Penne pasta "al dente". In a pan put the butter and pesto let it simmer. Then add the penne, italian seasoning,parsley, shaved parmesan and the lemon herb chicken. Mixed them all together and voila Penne pasta with Lemon herb chicken in Pesto sauce. And they are absolutely delicious. My husband love it and even ask for it again the next day.

So the chicken that was almost thrown away became the catalyst to a delicious meal prepared on our "meza" or table. So for that dinner we had some Penne Pasta with Lemon Herb Chicken in Pesto Sauce and we had some salad also with rasperry and walnut vinaigrette for me and asian orange sesame dressing for my husband. No food was wasted. And I am happy that made another penne pasta recipe thats easy to make.