Rockdale Citizen

Broccoli chicken Alfredo pasta is a simple, healthy dinner to prepare for your family.

Covington resident Kelly Cramer said that her recipe for broccoli chicken Alfredo pasta is pretty simple to make and it does not require a lot of ingredients.

Kelly, who is also a stay-at-home mom, came up with the recipe because she needed a simple pasta dish that tasted good and one that also had a vegetable incorporated into it.

Who doesn't need a good "go-to" pasta dish, one that doesn't require you slaving over the stove for hours and hours?

In an email, Kelly described herself as a "simple cook." She also stated she likes to get inspiration from a recipe and then she likes to make it her own. Sometimes that means condensing it down. I agree with her on that -- some dishes just don't need all of the bells and whistles and others do.

The nice thing about Kelly's recipe is that you can replace a certain spice with another spice your family might like better.

Kelly also said, "I'm also sort of a minimalist, so I like to use the fewest ingredients and utensils as I can get away with. Cooking hasn't always come naturally to me, but I do enjoy making simple recipes."

I like that part about using the fewest utensils -- the less to clean up, the better.

She also said she only used about of a box of noodles, but prepare the recipe according to how much you and your family might eat. And in the Cramer household, they eat this dish with a salad -- sounds good to me.

So, enjoy broccoli chicken Alfredo pasta, compliments of one of your Covington neighbors who submitted this simple but grand recipe.

Broccoli chicken Alfredo pasta

Start to finish: approximately 30 minutes

One head of broccoli

One box of linguine

One jar of Alfredo Sauce (Kelly used Ragu Classic Alfredo)

Two to three boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 tablespoon of lemon pepper seasoning

1 teaspoon of paprika

Chop up the broccoli and place it into a pan with a little water.

Cook the broccoli until it is tender.

Drain the water and place the cooked broccoli back into the pan.

Grill or fry the chicken breasts, seasoning with lemon pepper.

Chop the chicken into bite size pieces when it is done.

Cook the linguine following the directions on the box.

Mix the Alfredo sauce, broccoli, chopped chicken pieces and pasta together.

Sprinkle paprika on top of the dish and serve.

Tip: Kelly suggests using a George Foreman Grill to grill the chicken.