Easy Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Pasta

 The formerly ambitious blogger inside me told me I should wait to post this recipe I made on the fly last night until I can take better pictures, perfectly staged with French country linens and perfectly carved wooden spoons. But that girl ain't got time for such nonsense, at least not on weeknights when the AC has crapped out (seriously) and my husband is still hobbling around on a crutch trying to build an oscillating fan. So this real life girl is giving you the goods, straight.

I had a delicious pasta salad at Diner En Blanc and wanted to do a spin on that, but wasn't sure what that might entail. Luckily, a few guesses led to a great dish! You'll need:

Ingredients

• Farfalle pasta
• Fresh basil
• Sun Dried Tomato pesto (you could make your own, or cheat like me)
• Some kind of special spice mix that makes it extra delicious. I used this Crazy Chicken spice I picked up in Savannah. 
• Boneless skinless chicken tenders

Directions

1. Boil the farfalle, and at the same time, cut up your chicken tenders into smaller pieces and season with salt, pepper, your spice mix, maybe a little garlic powder and whatever else suits your fancy. 
2. Heat the chicken in a skillet with olive oil, and be liberal with the spice because the combo of the spice, olive oil and pesto is going to create your "sauce" for the pasta.
3. Once the chicken and pasta are done, toss the pasta in the skillet and mix well, adding spoonfuls of the pesto to taste, along with the basil. I topped with a healthy sprinkling of grated parmesan and it was delicious!

The best part? Sean liked it, and you need to know this is a man who only ordered spaghetti the entire time he visited Italy. He's never met a bolognese he didn't love and he's never met a cream sauce he was willing to try. But this, he liked!