my comfort food

I'm trying to get back into pasta, but I've gotten really used to not eating it. This is kind of weird for me, seeing as I was the kid who ate pasta 3x/day until I was about 23. I'm Italian, was raised vegetarian and am super picky. Pasta and cheese for breakfast! Pasta and cheese for lunch!

After pasta stopped being my friend, I tried to get into all of the pasta "alternatives". Its not like they weren't good, but the fact that they all cost more than twice of a box of rotini made me reject them on principle. And I still feel that way. It is total bullshit that a box of Tinkyada costs more than $3.

So I love pasta, but I've transferred most of my pasta recipes onto brown rice. (I can buy a 5lb. bag of brown rice at the Key Food for $2.50) This dish is a great example of one that works equally as well for both. Yay for me that I had some Debole's rice pasta in the cupboard, since I got home after a 10 hour day and was NOT IN THE MOOD to start up the rice cooker.

Pasta and Broccoli with Chicken

2 chicken breasts, sliced and poached
1/2 head of broccoli, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, chopped
a lot of olive oil
some tamari (about 2 TBSP)
3/4 box of pasta of your choice
Romano cheese, to taste
red pepper flakes, to taste

Bring pot of water to boil, dump in pasta, stirring frequently. Drain, rinse.

Heat a few glugs of olive oil, add garlic, saute. Add broccoli, shake tamari over, pour about 1/8 cup H20 into pan, turn down heat to medium, cover. Allow broccoli to steam until bright green. Add cooked chicken, stir, add more water if dry. Cook until broccoli is tender but not too much. Add more olive oil if necessary. I love olive oil.

Stir chicken-broccoli and pasta together. Serve with Romano cheese and red pepper flakes.

This makes 2 large servings - or for me, one dinner and one lunch to bring to work.

Note that there is no salt added to the recipe. The tamari and Romano are salty enough, and most of us eat too much salt without adding it from a shaker. I notice that I have often used added salt as a flavor enhancer, which makes me eat more of something than I would have without it. I'm trying to learn that when food stops tasting good, STOP EATING.

This kept tasting good until I was contentedly full.