Chicken Pesto with Squash Noodles

By the end of last week, I was getting close to the end of my vegetable stash and didn't want to haul all three kiddos to the store so I began the grueling task of figuring up a meal with what I had.  

You know those shows on the Food Network where they give the contestants just a handful of ingredients to come up with something edibley awesome?  Yeah...I wouldn't do good on those shows.

So when Scott called and had a stressed out tone to his voice, I decided to go with chicken pesto pasta, which was one of his favorites.  The only problem was that I didn't want to eat spaghetti when I was just getting the scales to move in the right direction, so I started looking at some options with the summer squash I had on hand. 

(Now, before I go any farther, I will tell you that I did not feed this to my children.  In fact, I didn't even attempt it.  They got noodles and red sauce and were as happy as clams.  I just wasn't in the mood for a fight this particular night.)

Me:  "Rachel, eat your beans."  Rachel:  "What beans??"

Earlier in the day, I had thrown a whole chicken in the Crockpot with salt and pepper and set it for about 6 hours.  After it was cooked, I shredded the meat and then threw the carcass in the pot to make stock later.

I had three yellow summer squash and three zuchinni, which I washed and cut the ends off and then peeled into strips with the vegetable peeler.  I loved the look of the yellow and green!  After tossing them with salt, I put them in the strainer and let them drain for a while.

I heated some olive oil in a skillet and threw in my squash for a couple minutes - just not long enough for them to get mushy.  I would love to tell you that I then whipped up my own pesto, but I didn't.  Not when Costco's is so tasty...

Topping the squash with the shredded chicken, I added about a tablespoon or two of pesto to each plate and then sprinkled the whole shooting match with a little bit of parmeasan cheese (making it technically NOT Paleo, but who's counting...).

Scott walked in the door during bath time (which was much needed, as I refer back to the earlier picture of Rachel) and, after getting the kids to bed, we enjoyed this dinner and a well deserved date night in our own dining room.  The verdict?  For the little bit of extra work, this is definitely something we'll do again.  It had more taste thank pasta could provide and really didn't take that much longer to make.  And I could even look my scales in the eye in the morning... :) 

Enjoy!