Chicken Pesto Casserole...Yum

The other day, I was delighted to get my Earth Fare email newsletter and find a FREE 1 lb. of chicken coupon!    Earth Fare does these great deals where you spend $5 in their store and you get something for free.  I set out happily skipping off to the store.  I bought a hunk of Parmigiano Reggiano and some organic flax seeds and swung by the meat counter.  Before I could say a word, the butcher cheerily said "Would you like a pound of chicken?" and just handed me this nice, white paper-wrapped pound of boneless, skinless chicken breast.  He was prepped and ready for people like me!  

So I thought and thought yesterday about what to do with this nice, fresh chicken.  And something that I could get the Vivver to eat without much coaxing and fussing.  I remembered seeing this casserole dish on www.Pillsbury.com  for a chicken pesto casserole. I went back and found it, saw that I had all ingredients on hand and said to myself, "Self", I said, "We're making this tonight!"  Since I got the recipe online, you can simply follow this link rather than me typing it!  Creamy Chicken-Pesto Casserole.  We really enjoyed it.  As usual, I thought of some changes I may make next time.  For instance, I think adding chopped artichokes would be an awesome addition and I might add a little more pesto just to ramp up that basil flavor a bit.  

I told you all before in this post  about how much I like the reduced fat Buitoni pesto.  I used that and a reduced fat/calorie Alfredo sauce in my dish.  Oh, by the way, if you make it, I would not recommend changing pasta types.  The radiatore works well because the sauce sticks to it and all its little crevices, it's easy to fork (for kids and grown-ups alike) and it stands up well to the other ingredients.  I think a different shape would get lost. I was really pleased with the outcome, how fast and simple it was to prepare and it will no doubt enter my repertoire of dished to take to friends who are ill or recuperating.