Shopping

I finally broke down and went shopping. I now have 3 new warm shirts, lots of warm undergarments, a t-shirt, and 2 pairs of pants that fit with my ridiculous winter underwear on. Those pants are a little loose without all the layers, but I plan on being warm this winter.

I now have 5 fun Lego toys on my desk. It's hard to make only one toy per day.

It's snowing like crazy here. My feet are usually warm and dry thanks to those boots I bought in October. Sometimes I over-warm them, and they get sweaty. That just isn't cool,  but I love those boots.

Last week I ended up making a wonderful chicken tomato pasta, but I forgot to post my recipe.

Chicken Basil Tomato Pasta

1 lb chicken breasts cut into cubes

1 medium zucchini cut into cubes

1 bell pepper, any color, cut into cubes

1-2 onions chopped

4 large garlic cloves chopped small

1 can/jar tomato basil sauce

4 servings of pasta, any variety

olive oil

salt

pepper

Italian seasonings

oregano

ground red chilies

Start the pasta water with a little bit of salt. Cook chicken in a skillet with olive oil, a little salt, and generous amounts of pepper. Add pasta to the boiling water. Add all the veggies to the pan with generous amounts of Italian seasoning, red chilies, oregano, and more olive oil if needed and pepper if desired.  Cook until smells awesome and the bell pepper is just starting to get soft. Turn down the heat and add the whole can of tomato sauce. Heat through. Allow to simmer while waiting on the noodles to finish. Serve sauce over noodles and enjoy.

Substitions

tomato basil sauce--2 regular size cans of crushed tomatoes + a large handful of fresh basil leaves chopped fine or 2-3 tablespoons ground basil

red chilies--anything that will give the sauce a bit of a spicy kick

zucchini--eggplant

I hope you like this as much as I did. I used two tiny onions because mine were really spicy. I didn't have the eyes to chop more than two of those little suckers. You can use however many onions you like. The basil is the really important part here. It tastes amazing with tomatoes so don't be shy about using a lot of it. I got lucky and found a jar of crushed tomatoes with basil. You may have to follow the substitutions. Cheese actually doesn't give this dish any help. It's pretty amazing without cheese. I'm glad I forgot to get cheese because it didn't need any at all. Feel free to offer suggestions for my next improvised dish. I never use recipes anymore. I go shopping and leave the store with the goodies to feed me for 4 days and turn them into a tasty dish. 

<3 Jess