Lemon Chicken Pasta

It's still pretty hot here in AZ, so my mom invited us over yesterday for swimming and dinner. It was a great day for swimming, although her pool is starting to get a little chilly. And I will never (okay, rarely) pass up a dinner someone else makes for me.

I had originally planned on making this last night but then didn't need to make dinner. It's another recipe from one of my Southern Living cookbooks. I've made it before but not in a really, really, really, really, really long time. I'm excited to have it again.

Lemon Chicken Pasta
Cooking spray
1 tsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1/4-inch wide strips
1/2 cup frozen green peas, thawed
1/3 cup shredded carrot
1/2 cup condensed low-sodium chicken broth, undiluted
2 Tbsp tub-style light cream cheese
2 cups hot cooked farfalle (about 1-1/4 cups uncooked bow tie pasta), cooked without salt or fat
3 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp grated lemon rind
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray; add oil and heat over medium-high heat. Add garlic, saute 15 seconds. Add chicken; saute 1 minute. Add peas and carrot; saute 1 minute. Remove chicken from skillet; set aside.

Add chicken broth and cream cheese to skillet and cook over medium-high heat 3 minutes or until cream cheese melts, stirring constantly with a whisk. Return chicken mixture to skillet. Stir in pasta, parmesan, lemon rind, salt, and pepper. Cook 1 minute. Yield: 2 servings.

*****

I got out two chicken breasts that were both kind of small. I forgot this was a two-serving recipe, but I think there should probably be enough for two adults and one toddler. I'll probably slightly increase the amounts of everything to make sure there's enough.

I remember that the first time I made this the husband had some right when it was ready and thought it was kind of bland. For whatever reason I had dinner after him and thought there was good flavor to it once it had sat for a bit and the flavors had a chance to meld together. Meld...is that a word? I don't know...how about "the flavors had a chance to combine with one another."

I'm not sure what we'll have along with this since there's pasta and vegetables mixed into it already. I'll see if I have some bread we can have along with it, but I may end up making Ghetto Garlic Bread (buttered hamburger buns stuck under the broiler for a few minutes), and we'll probably have salad with it.