Repurpose Your Leftovers! (Garlic Lemon Chicken with leftover veggie pasta)

Last night I made an entire box worth of garlic/oil/veggie spaghetti. We had a lot of leftover pasta, but we didn't want the same thing again. So I repurposed it! I paid $4.32 for the chicken and the rest of the ingredients were either on hand or leftovers from yesterday. Not bad for a huge meal.

Marinate 1.5 pounds of chicken breast in:

1/8 cup lemon juice

1/8 cup olive oil

1 tbsp oregano

5 cloves of chopped garlic

a hearty pinch of kosher salt & about 1/2 tsp of pepper

Slice your chicken into strips and put in a large ziplock baggie.

 Add the marinade & let it marinate for about 15 minutes (no longer because the chicken will cook in the lemon juice!)  I did the dishes while it was getting delicious. 

When the dishes are done (or it's been 15 minutes) take the chicken out of the marinade and throw the excess away. Pat the chicken dry. Get a skillet very hot and sautee the chicken. 

When the chicken is cooked & the juices run out, it's time to add the pasta right to the skillet!  It will soak up the rest of the marinade and chicken flavor and make the meal taste brand new. 

Let it cook another minute and toss well. I topped mine with fresh tomato and Grana Padano cheese. It'd be great with fresh herbs (but they aren't in season here in Chicago) or capers on top. My husband is picky and doesn't do capers, or mushrooms, or spinach, or zucchini, tomatoes, seafood etc etc etc. (I usually add my own veggies and "forbidden foods" separately)  The picture really doesn't do it justice. It is sooo delicious. Jim was amazed at the flavor of the chicken. The pasta picks up some of the lemon flavor too.