When dinner is a challenge. When you’re tired of the same old thing. When you want to venture into a new world, far – far away.

There isn’t a single person reading this who hasn’t hit the wall on ideas for dinner. We all gravitate to what we know and don’t often deviate from the “tried-and-true” recipes.

Yet, every once in a while we get inspired to try something new based off something we may see on TV, observe at a neighboring table in a restaurant or by smelling what a neighbor is grilling.  In my case, I was watching one of the food network shows and they were preparing the pasta that you see in this picture, which then inspired me to build an entire meal around it.

Without further ado, I’ll share what I did to create the Tuscan Chicken dinner seen here.

Tuscan Chicken Recipe

• 1 Whole chicken cut up
• Marinade

You will need fresh herbs for this selection, and you will need to somewhat estimate how much of the ingredients you need based on the amount of chicken you have.

Marinade Recipe

Ingredients:

• Rosemary (a good couple of sprigs with the leaves removed from the stem)
• Basil (a generous amount of basil leaves, roughly chopped
• Garlic Cloves (3-4 cloves)
• Lemon (you want the juice from ½ a lemon)
• Dill (this can be from dried dill in a spice jar)  this doesn’t take much.
• Salt (to taste)
• Pepper (to taste)
• Olive Oil

Directions:

In either a mortar and pestle or in a food processor (I prefer the mortar and pestle), combine the first 5 ingredients until you have a paste-like substance, which will be somewhat chunky in nature.  Once you are satisfied with the paste you are making add a little salt and pepper and slowly begin to add the olive oil. You will want to continue to mash the herbs into the olive oil until you have a marinade consistency.  You will want to taste just a little of it to make sure there’s enough S&P for your liking, and at that time you can decide if you need more or if it is fine as is.  The flavors will be robust in this state.

Next, find a pan large enough to hold a whole cut up chicken and slowly pour your marinade over the chicken; cover and set aside for about an hour.

At this point it is ready to slowly grill until the chicken is done.

Sun-dried Tomato Penne Pasta Recipe

This selection is best served at room temperature.

Ingredients:

• ½ box of Penne Pasta
• Sun-dried Tomatoes in olive oil
• 1 Tablespoon of Capers
• 4 Large Spanish olives
• Fresh Basil Leaves
• Olive Oil
• Reserve 1 Cup of the water you boil the pasta in

Directions:

First, you will want to take 3 or4 sun-dried tomatoes (depending on the size  more if they are small) and chop them up quite fine.  Next, if your capers are stored in brine rinse them, but if they are from a jar stored in water/vinegar do not rinse chop them fine too.  Finely chop the olives.  Put the tomatoes, olives and capers in a mixing bowl and add about a tablespoon of olive oil set aside.

Now, cook the pasta as directed; drain, reserving a good cup of the pasta water.  Then transfer the pasta into the bowl with the capers, sun-dried tomatoes and olive oil.  Add about ¼ cup of the pasta water and begin to gently fold the mixture together. If it is dry/sticky add more of the pasta water until it’s smooth and almost creamy.

Note: there will be chunks just because the mixture is chunky.

Final step rough chop some basil leaves and mix into the pasta.  Add as much or as little basil as you like.

Rustic Salad

Salads are personal.  Be as creative as you like with this side!  I kept mine pretty basic, which was the theme to the Tuscan Chicken authentic, basic and flavorful.

Ingredients:

• Lettuce
• Tomato
• Red Onion
• Crouton
• Vinegar & Oil Dressing

Directions:

Shred lettuce, dice tomato, thinly slice the red onion. Toss ingredients in a bowl with the croutons and dressing.

Grilled Bread

Ingredients:

• French Baguette
• Olive Oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic (optional)

Directions:

Slice the French baguette on the horizontal and use a basting brush and coat them with olive oil.  Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.  If you like, you can take a garlic clove and rub the bread after you put olive oil on it but before you sprinkle with the Salt &Pepper.

Once the chicken is done and you have taken it off the grill, place your bread on the grill and keep checking it until it’s toasted and has grill marks.  This won’t take long, and it’s the perfect time to grill the bread while the chicken is resting.

In closing, you’ll notice that there aren’t exact measurements to the ingredients throughout each of the recipes simply because these need to be created based on your likes, as well as textures. Have fun experimenting; enjoy!