Recipe #94 - Pesto Chicken Thighs with Italian Creme Sauce Over Parmesan Couscous

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I can't believe I found this website at the very end of my Year of 25. It's called Picky-Palate.com: Original Family Style Recipes for Even Your Pickest Eaters.

Place chicken and pesto into a large ziplock bag, seal and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place chicken thighs onto a large baking sheet that has been greased. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, until chicken is cooked through.

Place cooked couscous, olive oil and parmesan cheese into a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring to combine. Cook until heated through, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low.

Warm Philadelphia Italian Cheese and Herb Cooking Creme into a small saucepan over medium-low heat until warmed. Reduce heat to low.

To serve, place couscous onto a serving plate and top with chicken. Drizzle with warm cooking cream.

Now me, I prefer to have all the extra veggies, but my picky father and siblings loved this dish!

Rating: 7
Time: 2 hours
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
1 pound boneless chicken thighs, fat removed
1/2 cup prepared pesto sauce
2 cups cooked couscous
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cups freshly shredded Parmesan cheese
1 cup Philadelphia Italian Cheese and Herb Cooking Creme (can be found in the cream cheese section at your local grocery)

Recipe #19 - Zucchini, Corn, and Basil Fusilli with Bacon

I wanted to make something with zucchini, mainly because I don't have a lot of experience with it and wasn't sure if I even liked it. I think that zucchini, like cauliflower, is not a very memorable veggie. No matter what one do it it seems.

This recipe was super quick and easy. Thirty minutes tops, start to finish. Probably even more quick if you bought pre-cooked bacon.

I started by cooking the bacon in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium heat, turning occasionally, until crisp. Depending on how fatty the bacon, drain on paper towels; discard drippings from skillet.

Meanwhile, cook fusilli in a pasta pot of boiling salted water (3 tablespoons salt for 6 quarts water) until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta-cooking water, then add vegetables to pasta in pot and cook, partially covered, 2 minutes (water will stop boiling). Drain.

Add pasta with veggies to skillet along with pesto and 1/4 cup reserved cooking water and toss. Season with salt and moisten with additional cooking water if necessary (in my case it was necessary).

Serve onto a plate then top with crumbled bacon and a generous amount of freshly ground pepper. I also added crumbled feta cheese, which was not part of the original recipe, but definitely added a little something something to it.

Time: 30 minutes
Rating: 7.5
Ingredients:
6 bacon slices
1 pound fusilli pasta (extremely cute pasta)
3 ears corn, kernels cut from cob (I used frozen corn)
1 1/2 pound zucchini, coarsely chopped (1/2 inch pieces)
1 (1- to 7- ounce) container basil pesto