Who Taught You to Cook???

So it is no secret that I NEVER cook... Slash don't even know where to start when it comes to making a meal. Granted, it isn't all my fault --- for starters, I still live in the dorms, not exactly a good environment to learn these types of things. I do know how to make a few delicious things -- I am really good at Ooeyy Gooey Brownie Cookie (a specialty of mine), chili, tacos, baked ziti, and spaghetti, but that is about the extent of my culinary knowledge.

I set a goal for myself to attempt to learn how to cook something new each week. So this was my first week. I decided to make Lemon Chicken Pasta. Which turned out to be an interesting task. Some of the ingredients on this Publix recipe hard to find, but might have resulted in a better dish that what I ended up doing. I couldn't locate the garlic butter, so I used regular butter and added garlic salt. I also had trouble finding the chicken base, but when I did find it - it was $6, sitting next to $1 chicken boullion cubes. In my mind I thought "oh this is easily substitutable" ... but I think that was a mistake. Next time around, I will definitely buy the chicken base.

Here is what mine turned out like...

Ingredients

1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
large zip-top bag
1 lb boneless chicken tenders
1/4 cup garlic butter
8 ounces penne pasta
2 tablespoons capers
2 teaspoons chicken base
1 lemon (for juice, rinsed)
1/2 cup white wine
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Steps

1. Fill large saucepan 1/2 full of water. Cover and bring to boil on high for pasta. Preheat large sauté pan on medium-high 2–3 minutes.
2. Place flour and seasoned salt in zip-top bag; shake to mix. Cut chicken into bite-size pieces and add to bag (wash hands). Seal bag tightly and shake to coat.
3. Place garlic butter in sauté pan; swirl to coat. Add chicken (wash hands); reduce heat to medium and cook 2 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until chicken is no longer pink.
4. Stir pasta into boiling water. Boil 6–8 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until tender.
5. Stir capers and chicken base into chicken; cook 2 minutes, stirring often, to blend flavors. Squeeze juice of lemon into chicken; stir in wine and cream. Reduce heat to low; cook 3–4 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until thoroughly heated.
6. Drain pasta and stir into chicken mixture. Serve.

CALORIES (per 1/4 recipe) 540kcal; FAT 19g; CHOL 105mg;
SODIUM 1040mg; CARB 51g; FIBER 2g; PROTEIN 36g;
VIT A 10%; VIT C 10%; CALC 4%; IRON 15%