Quick Dinner Idea: Italian Sausage & Shrimp Pasta w/ Chicken

I am a self proclaimed Kitchenista. A girl who knows how to cook and isn't afraid to try new things. Tonight we were thinking about going to dinner at one of our favorite family restaurants, but then I decided that I could cook something just as good for half the price. Not to mention that we'd all have leftovers for lunch the next day. I would say that I am a food conscious person. I think about what we eat. I buy fresh or frozen veggies and I try to make sure we aren't over indulging on lots of red meat. I do not over obsess about buying everything organic, or making sure we're buying grass fed meats. I do what I can, when I can. Sometimes I have time to make meals from scratch and sometimes I have to whip somehting up in a jiffy. Tonight was a "jiffy" kind of night.

I started off by seasoning two chicken breasts and 41-50 large shrimp with the seasoning below. They're about $3.50 a piece. A little goes a long way.

 The chopped shallots I'll need for the sauce and the cherry tomatoes and mushrooms to add later.

Raw shrimp unseasoned

I always keep this in the freezer. It changes everything! :-)

Seasoned shrimp. I also added a little dill weed.

For the sauce

Using the same pan that you cooked the sausage in sautee the shrimp with some olive oil and butter.

In the same pan add the shallots, cooking wine (to taste), minced garlic and butter. Cook to carmelize shallots. When done, add mushrooms. Swish around pan.

Add cherry tomatoes. Swish.

Dump Pesto. Swish.

Add a nice bit of heavy whipping cream. About a tablespoon or so. Swish. Let it cook a few minutes, turn on low.

Add your sauce and sausage to pasta. Mix together.

Plate for a small.

Plate for a tall.

It's not the prettiest presentation but not too bad for someone that was holding a 30lb toddler. Yum!