Chicken Tortellini with Basil Pesto & Veggies

Pesto. Chicken. Cherry AND sun-dried tomatoes. Asparagus. Did I also mention you can make it all in one pan? This one’s a winner, y’all.

I came across this recipe the other night from Julia’s Album and once I saw the colors and all the yummy veggies, I knew I wanted to make it for the family. You know how picky little sis has been lately, so I knew this one wouldn’t be that popular with her, but had a feeling everyone else would enjoy it.

What also drew me to this recipe was how few ingredients it called for. Not only are they healthy, delicious, and fresh, there aren’t that many of them! AKA my favorite because it doesn’t take long to make. However, I switched out the ravioli for tortellini because I couldn’t find any ravioli at the store. It was still so good and the kids ate it all up. Also, I have never in my life cooked with sun-dried tomatoes before (why did no one tell me they’re so yummy and flavorful?!), so this was a much needed and welcomed switch-up from our regular dinner rotation ingredients.

Here’s what you’re going to need:

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 lb chicken breast boneless skinless, sliced

• salt

• 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes , drained of oil, chopped

• 1 lb asparagus , ends trimmed, cut in half

• 1/4 cup basil pesto

• 1 cup cherry tomatoes , yellow and red, sliced in half

• 10 oz ravioli

Directions:

1. In a large skillet heat 2 tablespoons olive oil on medium heat.

2. Add sliced chicken breast (seasoned with salt) and 1/4 cup of chopped sun-dried tomatoes. Cook everything on medium heat for 5-10 minutes, turning chicken slices over a couple of times until the chicken is completely cooked through.

3. Remove the chicken and the sun-dried from the skillet, leaving the oil in.

4. Add asparagus (ends trimmed), seasoned generously with salt, and 1/4 cup of sun-dried tomatoes to the same skillet.

5. Cook on medium heat for 5-10 minutes until the asparagus is cooked through. Remove the asparagus to a plate.

6. Cook ravioli according to the package instructions, drain.

7. Add cooked chicken with sun-dried tomatoes back to the skillet.

8. Add basil pesto.

9. Stir to coat and cook on low-medium heat until the chicken is reheated, 1 or 2 minutes. Remove from heat.

10. Add cooked ravioli and halved cherry tomatoes to the skillet with the chicken. Stir to combine. Add more pesto if desired.

11. Season with more salt if needed.

12. Serve the chicken, ravioli, and cherry tomatoes together with asparagus.

Hope you enjoy all the pretty colors and yummy flavors like we did, and head to Julia’s Album for more delicious recipes like this one! xoxo

A Chocolate Banana Bread Recipe

Here’s the story: we had a lot of bananas. We had a taste for something chocolatey. We knew what we had to do.

We had to make chocolate banana bread, naturally. Actually, we had originally planned to make a banana pound cake that Thomas’ sister made and had sent him the recipe for, but PJ got a taste for chocolate (always) so we decided to make this one first. And we gotta say, we don’t regret it. It’s the perfect mix of banana and chocolate and it’s so moist, almost tasting cake-ish, in all the best ways of course.

Here’s what you’re going to need, taken directly from Two Peas and Their Pod:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour

• 1/2 cup Dutch process cocoa

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

• 3 large brown bananas   (1 1/2 cups mashed)

• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

• 1/4 cup canola vegetable oil, or melted coconut oil

• 3/4 cup  packed light brown sugar

• 1 large egg, at room temperature

• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• 1 cup  semisweet chocolate chips, divided

Directions:

1. Heat your oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and sea salt. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, mash the ripe bananas with a fork. Add the melted butter and oil and stir until combined. Stir in the brown sugar, egg, and vanilla extract. Stir until smooth.

4. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, don’t overmix. Stir in 3/4 cup of the chocolate chips.

5. Pour batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of chocolate chips over the top of the bread. Bake for 50-65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out mostly clean, you might have some melted chocolate chips on the toothpick and that is fine. You just don’t want a lot of gooey batter. Check at 50 minutes, just to be safe. Oven times vary.

6. Remove the pan from the oven and set on a wire cooling rack. Let the bread cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the bread and carefully remove from the pan. Let the bread cool on the wire cooling rack until slightly warm. Cut into slices and serve.

7. Note-the bread will keep on the counter, wrapped in plastic wrap, for up to 4 days. This bread also freezes well. To freeze, cool the bread completely and wrap in plastic wrap and aluminum foil. Freeze for up to 1 month. Defrost before slicing.

Enjoy friends! :)

Crockpot BBQ Shredded Chicken

File this one under the actual easiest dinner of all time.

Thomas’ older sister gave us this recipe and we’ve loved the easiness and convenience of it. Actually, not sure you could even classify this as a recipe because there are only two steps, so we’re keeping it short and simple today and sharing how to make the juiciest, most delicious bbq chicken:

Ingredients:

• 4-5 boneless chicken breasts

• 1 bottle of your bbq sauce of choice

Directions:

1. Put whole chicken breasts in the crockpot and pour as much bbq sauce as you want to cover them completely. We say the more the better!

2. If chicken breasts are frozen, put crockpot on high for 4 hours. If chicken breasts are thawed, it should only take about 2-3 hours.

3. Shred the chicken directly in the crockpot.

4. ENJOY.

See what we mean? So incredibly easy and the best part is the kiddos love it, so it’s become a weekly dinner rotation in our house. We usually have enough for leftovers so we eat it for lunch the next day, too. We eat it on regular hamburger buns and make broccoli and either chips or some kind of potatoes in the air fryer. Oh! And a bbq chicken baked potato would be delicious, too.

Okay that’s all. Enjoy :) xx.