Leftover Rotisserie Chicken and Veggie Alfredo Pasta

Do you ever have those times when you don't want to cook?  You look at all your food and think I just don't want to.  That was me on Sunday.  So I decided we would get a rotisserie chicken from the store.  Every time I get one I wonder why I don't get one more often.  It is an easy was to get a healthy meal without doing much work, and they really aren't expensive at all.  On a really good weekend you can get them for $5 at one of the grocery stores around us.  So anyways on Sunday we had some chicken with roasted cauliflower (totally my favorite way to have cauliflower), salad and macaroni and cheese.  It was delicious.

So yesterday morning I knew I wanted to use some of the leftovers from the chicken for dinner.  To me that is another advantage of the chicken, leftovers that you can do a ton with.  So I looked online and searched for recipes that 1. Sounded good, and 2. I had all the ingredients for.  I found lots of the same things.  Make a salad, fajitas, sandwich or toss it in pasta.  None of them exactly sounded great, so I decided to make something up.  Now when I make something up it is either delicious or a disaster.  I like to think it is delicious more than not, but you'd have to ask Steven.

I decided to go the easy route and do pasta.  When I make pasta now though I always try to include lots of vegetables.  Veggies are a great way to make pasta lighter and healthier.  And I can usually get my kids to eat the veggies with little issues.  I have also been craving fettuccine Alfredo recently. I haven't had it in a while because it is tough to make lower calorie.  But I recently found a Ragu sauce that has just 50 calories in a 1/4 cup.  That isn't a ton of sauce but I knew if I spiced up the veggies and chicken and made it delicious without sauce that a little would make it even better.

Things you should know about this recipe.  I used thin spaghetti and angel hair pasta because I had a little of both left, but you can use spaghetti, thin spaghetti, angel hair, fettuccine, linguine, whatever you have.  Also when it comes to spices I nearly always use Tony Chachare's Original Creole Seasonings.  My mom used it a ton growing up with is probably why I still use it a ton, but also it is awesome.  Also you can really use any vegetables you want this is just what I used.

Chicken and Veggie Alfredo Pasta

1/2 box of Thin Spaghetti (I use whole wheat or whole grain pasta)
1 head of broccoli
1 tbsp Olive Oil
1 green pepper
1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
1/2 onion
1/2 cup frozen peas
1-1/2 cups of cooked chicken (I used the leftover rotisserie chicken you can use any cooked chicken in pieces)
1 jar Alfredo sauce (look for a lower calorie option if you want to be a little healthier)
Spices (I used salt, pepper, Tony's, Basil, and oregano)

Chop all vegetables and chicken, so you can easily sauté them, except the broccoli (chop the broccoli but you will not sauté it).  Pour Olive oil in the bottom or a large skillet or wok and heat over medium to medium high heat.  Add vegetables, chicken, and spices.  I am generous with spicing, but try not to overdo it too much.  The sauté will probably take 10-15 minutes to cook, depending on size of your veggies and the amount.  Follow the directions on the box for pasta.  Once the water is boiling add broccoli and pasta and boil for directed amount of time.  Check the broccoli before you drain it.  And once drained to do not rinse.  Heat the Alfredo sauce.  Mix the pasta and vegetable chicken sauté.  Add sauce after plated to control how much sauce you add.

It really is a simple easy recipe, but turned out rather delicious.  And since it had lots of veggies you really don't need to serve anything else with it, but you can always add a salad.

It turned out great!  And there are plenty of leftovers for lunch!