Food Staples Make Dinner Simple

Each week my grocery list pretty much looks the same because I know what foods I like, but I don’t like to plan all my meals for the week. I noticed when I planned meals ahead of time, I never wanted those meals for those nights. For example, tonight I was going to have MahiMahi with salad or roasted broccoli and brown rice, but all I wanted was a pasta dish. Since I had lots of my favorite foods, I was able to whip up a surprisingly delicious new pasta dish and nipped my pasta craving in the bud. To share, here are some of my favorite foods that I buy each week:

• Broccoli
• Baby spinach
• Garlic
• Lemon
• Red Onion
• Tomato
• Avocado
• Chicken
• Red, yellow, and orange peppers
• Eggs
• Fruit

And here are my pantry staples:

• Brown rice
• Whole wheat pasta
• Red wine vinegar
• Balsamic vinegar
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Goat cheese
• Parmesan cheese
• Sun-dried tomatoes
• Kalamata olives
• Chicken broth
• Red and/or white wine
• Nuts (walnuts, pine nuts, almonds – sliced and whole)
• Dark chocolate

Seriously, that’s pretty much everything that lives in my kitchen each week and I pull from these ingredients to whip up my dinners, snacks, and dessert (dark chocolate square –so good!).

Tonight I made a yummy Chicken, Roasted Broccoli, and Sun-dried Tomato with Goat Cheese Pasta dish. If you want to try it, check out what I did:

Ingredients:

• Whole wheat pasta
• Chicken
• Broccoli
• Sun-dried Tomatoes
• Lemon juice
• Garlic
• EVOO
• Red onion

First, I heated the oven to 400 degrees and started my pasta water. Once boiling, I threw in the pasta. I also washed and cut up some broccoli and tossed it with garlic and a little oil, salt, and pepper to roast on a baking sheet in the oven while everything cooked (about 15 minutes). Meanwhile, I sautéed the chicken in a nonstick skillet and once it was cooked through, I added some sun-dried tomatoes, the juice of about ½ of a lemon, and a little chopped red onion. I tossed in the roasted broccoli and garlic, the pasta, and sprinkled on some goat cheese. Delicious and simple!