Chicken Pasta Salad

We actually had this dish on Wednesday night, but since I blogged about what God is doing, this one got pushed a little farther down the priority list. Also adding to the delay was the fact that we had a track meet last night. This wasn't on our original schedule of meets, but we picked it up because someone was able to take our poles to the meet, since taking them on the train is kind of out of the question.

This is one of my favorite summertime meals. It's light, cool, but filling at the same time. You can use whatever veggies you have laying around - fresh, frozen, raw, cooked, whatever.

Ingredients:

• One boneless, skinless chicken breast (or one can Great White Northern beans. Or both.)
• Farfalle pasta (I am used to cooking for one, so check the back of the box/bag for serving sizes)
• Tri-color cheese tortellini (This is optional, but I recommend it. Follow the packaging for serving size)
• Chopped baby carrots
• Corn
• Peas
• Cherry tomatoes
• Italian dressing 
• Parmesan cheese

Prep:

• Cook your protein - cube the raw chicken and cook in a pan with olive oil, salt, and pepper. For the beans, wash and drain them before quickly heating them through in a pan using the olive oil, salt, and pepper. Set aside in a bowl to cool.
• Cook the desired amount of pasta following the instructions on the packaging. I usually start the farfalle pasta first, then add the tortellini since it doesn't need as much time to cook. Drain and set in a bowl to cool, adding just enough olive oil to prevent pasta from sticking together.
• I personally use mostly raw vegetables, but if you have some frozen ones, bring them to room temperature (thaw, cook, boil/drain) and put in a large bowl.
• Add your chicken/beans and pasta to the large bowl. Toss salad to mix everything together. Add the Italian dressing and Parmesan cheese now or once you have the salad in individual bowls.