Creamy pesto chicken.

I may be taking the month of February to step back and refocus- but I'm so thankful for some wonderful friends who are filling in for my while I'm gone. Emily is no exception- she is the best! If you haven't already, go check out her blog. :)

As Katie's taking a blacation (blog vacation..my own word.made up just now.you're welcome) I'm happy to share my easy peasy chicken recipe {that I promise is more appetizing than my 2 year old post suggests..*cough*}. Its always the easy go to week night recipe so feel free to add it to your menu for next week and come back to thank me, because you'll want to. Yes, my name is Emily, and I'm humble...

I get quite a lot of people asking for this recipe once they've tasted it's goodness. I came across it years ago while searching for a better chicken dish and I think I found it on food and family but have not been able to find it since...I'm so happy I found it before it disappeared. YAY for me.

So I've kinda dubbed it my recipe since it technically disappeared...I can do that right?? Right??

What's FANTASTIC about this dish is it's a 1 dish dinner. I will repeat; ONE DISH DINNER!!

Who doesn't love that!?

Before I begin; let me start out with a disclaimer: Mid way through, this becomes a very fast paced dish (or for me it does) so I highly recommend not doing another fast paced dish at the same time (as I did last night) this will leave you with kitchen chaos and things not turning out as they normally would if you had just focused on one. But it was all still very very good.

So let's begin. Here is everything you need. -yes that is my water glass, I hadn't measured the water yet. You get the point...

Heat a large pan on med-high heat and cook chicken. If you have my stove, turn it on med-high, walk away for 5 minutes, think you smell the oil getting hot and add chicken only to find it wasn't hot and wait a full minute before you even hear a sizzle. love you stove!

I like to pound the chicken out a bit to cook it faster and more evenly. Remove chicken. Add water and watch it steam! But only for a second!

Reduce heat to medium and add the cream cheese and whisk it breaking up the yummy bits from the chicken. (I started doing the spinach at this time, which began the chaos!)

Add the pesto and stir stir stir. Swirl patterns are the most fun to do. in case you wanted a suggestion.

Return the chicken, mix it in the sauce and add the cheese on top. Put a lid on it to melt the cheese, and run around the kitchen looking for the other lid for the spinach you're about to ruin OR stand there filing your nails since you have so much time because you didn't choose another crazy dish to make like me.

Once the cheese is melted add the tomatoes (this makes the dish!) and stir them around to get a little warm.

Serve it with a great "pre-made side" not necessarily this spinach I wilted that had me nearly ruining both dishes. (though a very good spinach...I'll have to share that one another day...another crowd pleaser)

Some variations that can be done: Use mozzarella cheese or 4 cheese instead of monterey. I usually use mozzarella but felt like using a different white cheese this time. This is a 2 person dinner, increase the ingredients if you're feeding more. :-)

2 chicken breasts, tenders removed*

1 TBSP olive oil

1/4 C water

4 oz cream cheese, softened

1/4-1/2 C pesto

Shredded mozzarella

All the cherry/grape tomatoes you want

Heat oil in lg pan on med-high heat. Add chicken cooking for 5-7 minutes on each side, depending on thickness. Once cooked, place chicken on a plate, cover with foil to keep warm. Reduce the heat to medium and add the water and cream cheese whisking up the chicken bits until combined. Add the pesto continuing to stir for about 1-2 minutes. Until all heated through. If the sauce looks or is getting thick add a tiny bit more water. Return the chicken to pan, coating the chicken in the sauce then add cheese to chicken. Cover with a lid for about 2 minutes or until cheese is completely melted. Add the tomatoes allowing them to warm through. Remove from pan, determine who gets the most tomatoes and enjoy.

*Random Tip: Remove the tenders and wrap them individually in cling wrap/ziploc and freeze. Continue to add tenders and over time you'll have enough for chicken fingers or for any recipes that call for tenders.