Welcome to the third dish in the Big Fat Healthy Chicken Pasta Series.

I wanted to bring families some very easy, healthy pasta dishes (including a gluten free option) to put into your rotation that take no longer than twenty minutes to make. All you have to promise me is that you’ll gather your family and sit down at a table and eat together.

This dish is a balance of protein, good fat, healthy organic spinach and grape tomatoes. 

I promise you here is an extra benefit to you, your family, your health if you can gather together and just appreciate the art of family dining.

Instead of those boxed cheesy shells, make this more nutritious meal.

This is my take on simple Italian using pasta shells, which is everyone’s childhood favorite. I used a gluten free version, which is surprisingly good from Ancient Harvest.

This is a great recipe for the busy family that reheats well and is so easy, it’s hard to call this a recipe.

When Making Boneless Breasts of Chicken with Pasta there are three Main Ways to Cook Them

All of the recipes I’m using for this series incorporate boneless chicken breasts. There are few ways you can do this and you can interchange the method. You’re goal is to have a tender piece of chicken.

• Oven Baked as I did in this recipe.
• Marinated and Grilled as I did here.
• Pan Fried in olive oil and/or butter as I did here.

You will end up with tender chicken, using any of these methods, a tricky thing to accomplish with boneless breasts. At any time, feel free to substitute with boneless, skinless thighs. You can also use chicken tenders.

Baking Chicken and Cherry Tomatoes in a Sheet Pan

You can also bake them in the oven at the exact same time, same pan as the cherry tomatoes. You will want to check them at ten minutes and use an instant read meat thermometer. The safe internal temperature for cooked chicken is 165° Fahrenheit (75° Celsius). Please remove the chicken as soon as it hits that temperature.

I pan roasted cherry tomatoes which means no prep is necessary outside of a smattering of olive oil. They will burst open themselves, and taste really good.

I used Gluten Free Pasta Shells for this Chicken Pasta Dish

Today, I chose baby shells.  I used this brand of gluten free pasta. It’s made with corn and quinoa and has enough body to fool you. Feel free to substitute your own favorite. If you’re not eating gluten free, orzo works great in this recipe.

You can cook the pasta while you’re making the chicken, while the tomatoes are in oven, making this a twenty minute dish, start to finish.

Toss in raw baby spinach and kale with the hot pasta. I used fresh basil for flavor, but you could skip this or add in some fresh thyme, oregano, or parsley.

You could also add in some chili pepper flakes to add some heat and fresh herbs such as basil.

This is clean eating, and less is best. If you feel like the dish doesn’t have enough pizazz, add in a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, a squeeze of lemon or a drizzle of good balsamic vinegar. Don’t forget salt, as pasta or any starchy addition needs salt to taste good. I use this healthy himalayan sea salt in just about everything.

I’ve made this dairy free, but you can toss with favorite for this kind of cheese. Pecorino Romano is sharp, salty and can give a lift to any dish.  You can go caprese style and add in slices of room temperature fresh mozzarella with fresh basil.

More Chicken Recipes from Spinach Tiger

More Italian Recipes from Spinach Tiger

More Healthy Chicken Pasta Dishes from Spinach Tiger

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Chicken with Gluten Free Pasta Shells, Roasted Tomatoes, Spinach

Healthy, clean eating gluten free pasta shells with chicken breast, roasted tomatoes and chicken.

Course Entree

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 2 chicken breasts or 4 chicken tenders
• 8 ounces gluten free pasta shells I used this
• 1 pint grape tomatoes
• 3-4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves chopped garlic
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 4 cups organic baby spinach or super spinach
• fresh basil optional
• fresh mozzarella optional

Instructions

• Prepare chicken breasts. If the chicken breasts are thick, slice through lengthwise.
• Make a marinade of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, using 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar, chopped garlic.
• Allow chicken breasts to sit out for one hour with marinade brushed on them. You don't have to do this. You could just proceed with putting chicken in oven, but this does add extra tenderness to white meat chicken.
• Preheat oven to 350. Put water on to cook pasta.
• Put chicken breasts on one side of sheet pan, grape tomatoes on other side. Toss tomatoes with a small amount of olive oil.
• Bake in oven at 350 for approximately 20 minutes, checking at 10 for internal temperature of chicken, which should be at 165 degrees F to be safe. Turn chicken breasts over. Tomatoes will burst open on their own.
• Cook pasta according to directions.
• Drain pasta. Toss with olive oil. Immediately add greens while pasta is hot.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Cut chicken breast across about an inch each and add to pasta.
• Add in basil or parsley.
• If you feel the pasta needs more zing, drizzle some very good balsamic vinegar or a squeeze of lime to add in some acid and don't forget to salt.

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The post Pasta Shells, Chicken, Roasted Tomatoes appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

If I had my way, it would always be summer and I would have an unending supply of fresh tomatoes to eat in a thousand different ways, 900 of them served with some kind of pasta.

I really don’t like to open cans of tomatoes. I prefer fresh food, but I do and I will when it’s the middle of winter or I need a tomato sauce for the more traditional Italian lasagna or spaghetti and meatballs.

One of my favorite ways to eat tomatoes is to roast them and use them for pasta and seafood or pasta and beans. When tomatoes are roasted in the oven, they caramelize and transform from a sweet fruit to something more sultry, and very concentrated in flavor. A little goes a long way, and gives the proper boost to more shrimp and white beans. And, for the vegetarian, vegan or flexitarian, roasted tomatoes, pasta, cannellini beans and little basil and you have a perfect meal.

And, it’s all done in under an hour, for mere dollars. (Remember the days, when we said, mere pennies?)

I began roasting tomatoes last summer when we planted our first garden and we couldn’t keep up with eating the bounty of tomatoes, thanks to DC’s hard work. On one of my whims to eat everything in our garden, I threw a bunch of tomatoes into the oven to see what would happen.

It was that easy. And then the fun began. I made roasted tomatoes with fresh pesto (we also grew basil) and served it as an appetizer with Italian bread. And, as you will see in coming posts, the roasted tomato became a frequent guest. We ate it on fish, chicken, in soup, stews, pizza, or just spread on Italian bread with some fresh basil.

These are large cherry tomatoes, but you can roast smaller grape tomatoes and you can roast larger roma tomatoes or homegrowns, by quartering them. Keep it simple… tomatoes, olive oil, sea salt.

Different sizes and different types of tomatoes will roast differently. These pictures will show you the process. Don’t get too concerned with a few dark skins, as the tomatoes will slip right out.

You might be asking what is bucatini? It’s a rather thick spaghetti, that is hollow. It has a hole running through the middle and is the official pasta in Bucatini all’Amatriciana, a dish very common in Rome, and the first time I had it. The Italians (in Italy) take the al dente process very seriously and the pasta (especially in this dish) will almost have a crunch. Cooking the pasta in this al dente fashion actually aids digestion, which is counterintuitive, but the Italians just “know” how to eat what and in what order to feel the best.

The brand I purchase comes in two-pound packages only, which means we need to invite people over. It’s fun to introduce friends to a pasta they mostly likely have not experienced. Part of the fun of dinner parties is to give guests a delicious meal and a new experience. You can make this dish with a macaroni too, such as penne pasta.

How about you? What is your favorite shaped pasta?

More Pasta Dishes with Roasted Tomatoes

Pasta Shells with Chicken Roasted Tomatoes (gluten free)

Grilled Cauliflower Steaks with Roasted Tomatoes

Toasted Quinoa with Roasted Tomatoes

Rosemary Focaccia with Roasted Tomatoes

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Bucatini with Shrimp and Roasted Tomatoes

Pasta with Shrimp and Roasted Tomatoes, an easy twenty minute dish. Tomatoes are smokey and complimented with white beans and feta cheese.

Course Entree

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour

Servings 4

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• Bucatini with Shrimp and Roasted Tomatoes
• 1 pound bucatini or pasta of choice
• 2 pounds wild shrimp peeled, deveined
• 2 cloves garlic chopped
• 1 tablespoons finely chopped fennel seeds
• 2 teaspoons capers
• 1 1/2 roasted tomatoes made from 4 cups fresh tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil divided
• 1 can cannellini beans drained, rinsed
• 4 tablespoons crumbled feta cheese I use sheep’s feta, purchased in brine
• 1/2 teaspoon red chile peppers
• !Roasted Tomatoes
• 4 cups cherry tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• sea salt

Instructions

Bucatini with Beans, Shrimp Instructions

• Cook pasta according to directions minus 2 minutes (al dente). Use a large amount of water and good amount of salt. Drain immediately. Pasta should be yielding, yet firm.
• Sauté crushed garlic in 1 tablespoon olive oil, just until soft.
• Add shrimp to pan, cook just until pink, remove shrimp to a dish, set aside.
• Mix beans with some olive oil, salt, pepper and fennel seeds.
• In same pan, add beans. until heated through.
• Crumble feta.
• Toss pastas with olive oil, salt, pepper, chili pepper.
• Add tomatoes, beans.
• Top each serving with equal amount of shrimp and 1 tablespoon feta cheese.

Roasted Tomatoes

• Cut a small x on top of each tomato.
• In shallow roasting pan or toss tomatoes in olive oil. Season with salt.
• Roast at 375 for 35-40 minutes. Turn at 20 minutes. The tomatoes will burst through their skins.
• You know they are done when they easily fall apart, and are caramelized. Don’t worry if some skins turn dark, just remove them. The tomatoes will have a rich, smokey flavor.

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