Grilled Chicken with Lemon Basil Pasta

I got this recipe from Pioneer Woman, so of course it's amazing! I made it while mom was here and we all loved it.

Ingredients

• 4 whole Grilled Chicken Breasts, Sliced
• 1 pound Penne Pasta, Cooked Until Al Dente
• ½ sticks Butter
• 3 whole Lemons, Juiced
• ¾ cups Heavy Cream
• ¼ cups Half-and-half
• 1-½ cup Grated Parmesan Cheese (or Romano)
• Salt And Freshly Ground Black Pepper, To Taste
• 20 whole Basil Leaves, Chopped

Preparation Instructions

Cook pasta, reserving 1 cup of hot pasta water when you drain. Set pasta aside in a colander.

In the same pot, melt butter over medium heat. Squeeze in the juice of 3 to 4 lemons. Whisk together. Pour in cream and half-and-half. Whisk until hot. Dump in cheese and whisk until melted. Add salt and pepper. Check consistency, adding some of the hot pasta water to loosen the sauce if needed.

Pour pasta and sauce into a large serving bowl. Sprinkle remaining basil all over the top, then add sliced chicken breasts. Serve immediately!

Pomegranate Pear Salad with Maple Nut Dressing

Pomegranate Pear Salad Recipe with Maple Nut Dressing

Serves 4. Approx 140 calories.

Ingredients

• 1/3 - 1/2 cup almond butter
• juice from 1 lemon
• 6 Tbsp water
• 4 Tbsp 100% pure maple syrup (if you’re using Grade B, just use 3 Tbsp)
• 1/8 tsp cinnamon
• 6 cups mixed greens (I used a mix of 1/2 dark winter greens and 1/2 spinach)
• 3 pears
• 3/4 cup pomegranate arils (or use blueberries and/or strawberries instead)

Directions

Prepare dressing in a small bowl by whisking together almond butter, lemon juice, water, maple syrup and cinnamon. Let sit for about 5 minutes while you slice pears thinly and extract the pomegranate arils (or make your kids do it, or buy the arils already extracted). Toss greens in dressing, just a couple tablespoons at a time, until leaves are just coated. Top with sliced pears and pomegranate and serve immediately.

Note: You’ll have leftover dressing for tomorrow. If your fam isn’t going to eat the entire salad in one sitting, don’t toss greens in the dressing. It’s nice to toss, because the greens are evenly coated and you don’t have huge blotches of dressing running throughout your pear salad recipe. But it’s not worth it if your greens are going to be wilted the next day. Know what I mean?