Pasta, Broccoli & Chicken

Adapted from Allrecipes

For some reason I bought a gigantic bag of broccoli from Costco and now I have to figure out what to do with it.  This simple pasta was a fresh and satisfying dish to use up some of the broccoli.  Feel free to sub out the cheese or veggies for what you have on hand.

Ingredients:

• 12 oz penne pasta
• ½ lb fresh broccoli florets
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 Tbs minced garlic
• 3 Tbs pesto
• 1 can petite diced tomatoes
• ¾ cup feta cheese
• 1 lb boneless chicken breast halves, cooked and chopped
• Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

• In a large pot with boiling salted water, cook rigatoni pasta until al dente.  Drain.
• Meanwhile, blanch broccoli florets in a medium size saucepan, remove with slotted spoon.  In same pan, sauté the minced garlic and pesto sauce in the olive oil for 2 minutes.  Add the can of diced tomatoes (drained well) and set aside.
• In a large bowl, toss the cooked pasta with the blanched broccoli, cooked chicken, and garlic/tomato mixture.  Add the feta cheese, salt and pepper and mix well. Serve warm.