Creamy Veggie Pasta with Chicken

     In continuing with my health kick, I've rediscovered another great little invention, called pasta that's made out of vegetables. I know it's really nothing new, but yesterday I tried the kind that's apparently made from carrots and guess what! It doesn't ever taste remotely like carrots! Since I'm Italian, I eat a lot of pasta and I really couldn't live without it. I have tries whole wheat varieties, which I like well enough, but I have to say the veggie version is better. So while you could make this meal with any type of pasta you want, I highly recommend giving veggie pasta a try. Besides that, this meal is chockfull of fresh vegetables, honestly because I was trying to use up what we had in the house. If you have different ones on hand, you can probably throw in whatever you want. This recipe makes about 4 servings.

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 box of non-spaghetti-shaped pasta (My carrot pasta was a fancy macaroni.)
3 boneless chicken breasts
one small bunch of broccoli
one bell pepper (Pick your favorite color.)
a few handfuls of fresh spinach
1/2 onion
1 cup chicken broth
3/4 cup milk
1-2 tablespoons flour
shredded parmesan cheese for garnish
olive oil, salt, and pepper

DIRECTIONS:
1. Boil the pasta.

2. Chop the broccoli, pepper, and onion before and set all the veggies aside.

3. Heat a little olive oil in a pan. Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces and cook them over medium heat for about 5 minutes.

4. When the chicken is pretty much cooked, add the onions and cook them for 3 minutes.
5. Add the broth and milk, heat it for a minute, then gradually add flour until the sauce thickens to your liking. Turn the fire down a little once the sauce looks good.

6. Next, add the broccoli and cover the pan to let it steam for a couple minutes.
7. Add the peppers and spinach. Cover the pan again for a minute to let the spinach wilt. Then continue to stir everything until the spinach loses about 90% of its original volume.

8. Finally, add the pasta to the pan and stir it to coat it with the sauce.

As you can see, my pan was just barely big enough to fit all the food! Serve this with a little bit of parmesan on top. Enjoy!