Food for Thought: Angel Hair with Zucchini and Tomatoes (with chicken)

Since hubby was checking his eyes for light leaks before dinner, I was able to take my time making tonight's dinner after I realized it would make a good installment of Food for Thought.

If you know me, you know I make lists and schedules, and when it comes to the dinner schedule deviation is NOT an option.  But since we went hiking this past weekend I was not able to sit down with all my recipes, trusty pen, menu or grocery list.

Don't worry though. I didn't panic, get sweat palms, have heart palpitations or faint!  I went to a recipe that we tried last week, one I found on Skinnytaste.com, and all I needed was to make a quick trip to the store for some zucchini for tonight's spontaneous concoction of a dinner known as:




Angel Hair with Zucchini and Tomatoes (with chicken)

2 zucchini, julienne or cut into ribbons
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 shallots, diced
3 tomatoes, diced
4 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper
8 oz angel hair pasta, whole wheat
1/4 cup low-sodium fat-free chicken broth
crushed red pepper flakes to taste (optional)
cooked chicken breasts (see Hope's Notes below about chicken)

In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook pasta according to instructions.

While pasta is cooking, in a large saute pan, heat pan on medium-high flame, add oil when pan is hot.  Add garlic and shallots to the pan and saute about 1 minute.  Add zucchini and season with salt and pepper.  Cook about 2 minutes, add tomatoes, chicken broth and adjust salt and pepper.  Stir for another minute, remove from flame.

Drain pasta when done and toss the pasta well with zucchini.  Serve with grated Parmesan if you so desire!





Yields: 4 equal servings

Nutritional Info: (for pasta ONLY)
254.4 calories, 5.7g fat, 7.4g protein, 51g carbs, 7.8g fiber, 2.6g sugar
source: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2008/06/angel-hair-with-zucchini-and-tomatoes-5.html

Hope's Note: make this a completely vegan/vegetarian dish by omitting the chicken and substituting vegetable broth

Hope's Note: I make chicken to go along side. You can bake at 350F covered for about 35 minutes. Grilling is also an option. I tend to cook 1 breast pre-skinned & boned per person, giving myself about 4-6 oz. Nutritional information WILL change and the above does not account for this addition!

Hope's Note: Try to choose happy chicken! Cage free, no hormones, etc... It is my (unproven) theory that happy chickens are not stressed and because they are not stressed they don't have as high of cholesterol levels, which means I'm not ingesting extra cholesterol than I would with chickens that are freaked out all the time. Makes sense in my world LOL!