Pasta with Garlic, Lemon and Parmesan

One of my favorite easy meals to make is Pasta with Garlic, Lemon and Parmesan.  I got the recipe from http://startcooking.com/blog/107/Pasta-with-Lemon-and-Garlic but adapt it a little each time depending on what I have on hand.

What you'll need:
I've found it best to use the freshest ingredients as possible!
Olive Oil
Lemon
Garlic Cloves
Parmesan Cheese
Pasta Noodles
Optional - fresh veggies (I've used asparagus, brocolli), parsley

Boil noodles.  While noodles are cooking, prep the remaining ingredients.  Remove the zest from the lemon. Juice the lemon.  Mince the garlic.
Once the noodles are cooked, drain and set aside.  (You can retain a cup of the water to add to the noodles later if needed, I typically do not need it)
Saute garlic in olive oil.  I've found you can use a little or as much of all of the ingredients as you like.  I prefer more garlic and olive oil to lemon juice and zest (but that's me ;-)  You don't want to brown the garlic, just saute for a minute or two on med heat.  Add the noodles, and mix to coat.  Turn off the heat.  Add lemon zest and juice (again, as much or as little to your tastes).  Toss to coat.
Serve up with grated Parmesan cheese.

 The pasta is good by itself, with bread or with a side salad or adding to a meat entree.  Below we served up some meatballs (thank you costco ;-) and a side salad!  Makes for an easy weeknight, light supper!

BBQ Chicken Flatbread Pizza

I'm always on the look out for new, tasty yet simple recipes (I leave the real culinary experiences to the hubs).  Lately we have been enjoying the Stonefire Flatbread Naan.  Typically we throw a little tomato sauce, some sliced tomatoes, mozzarella, basil and garlic and toss it in the oven... but this time round we didn't have those ingredients on hand.  Hmmm... throw on some leftovers and call it BBQ Chicken Flatbread Pizza.

What you'll need:

• Flatbread (we prefer Stonefire Flatbread Naan, but we've also used Greek Flat Pita bread)
• Sliced Chicken Breast (cooked, we cooked ours in the oven with a little BBQ sauce smothered on top or leftover chicken)
• Caramelized onion (we used red onion, caramelized in real butter ;-)
• BBQ sauce (any brand will work, we prefer brands without added high fructose syrup)
• Broccoli
• Cheese (we used shredded mozzarella, and gruyere)

Preheat the oven to 350.  Cook the chicken breast OR use leftover chicken.  Caramelize onions.

Once the chicken is cooked, slice thin or cut into chunks (bite-able sizes).  Spray flatbread lightly with olive oil.  Stick in the oven for 5 minutes to warm and toast slightly.  Once the edges begin to brown, remove from oven.  Lightly spread flatbread with BBQ sauce.  Add caramelized onions, and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Then add chicken and broccolli.  Lightly drizzle more BBQ sauce over the top.  Grate gruyere over it all.  Pop it in the oven until the chesse is melted and the edges are a golden brown.  Enjoy....