Chicken Pasta with Pecan Cream and Mushrooms

I was going to make this recipe over the weekend, but I ended up spending my Friday night helping Kelly decorate her visor for the Dragon Boat Race on Saturday.  Her visor turned out really cute!  I was quite impressed with myself.  Saturday night, I just wasn't feeling like cooking so I had leftovers.  When Sunday rolled around, I was really want to make this recipe that I had found on myrecipes.com from Cooking Light, and I decided to make it for Rick and I for dinner last night when he got back from his trip to visit his parents.  As usual, I made a few changes that are reflected in the recipe below.  Not being the mushroom fan, Rick picked most of them out from his serving, and I took them!   When I was putting together our leftovers, I was nice enough to give him chicken only.  Are I sweet?  We ended up making the whole box of pasta (which is why I'm suggesting 1/2 the box in the recipe), and we're planning on using the rest of it when we make Chicken Parm this week.

Chicken Pasta with Pecan Cream and Mushrooms

Ingredients

• 3/4  cup  coarsely chopped pecans, toasted
• 1  cup  water
• 1/4 cup half and half
• 1 1/4  teaspoons  salt, divided
• 1 pack of skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into cubes
• Garlic and herb spice grinder
• 1  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• Cooking spray
• 1/4  cup  finely chopped shallots
• 1  (8-ounce) package presliced mushrooms
• 2 tablespoons of fresh basil, chopped
• 1/2 box of pasta of your choice

Directions

Place pecans in a food processor; process until smooth (about 1 minute), scraping sides of bowl once. With processor on, add water, then milk, and 3/4 teaspoon salt; process until smooth, scraping sides of bowl.

Season chicken with Garlic and Herb Grinder.  Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add chicken; sauté until done. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm.

Add basil, shallots, and mushrooms to pan; sauté until mushrooms are tender. Stir in pecan cream, pepper and add chicken back to the pan; bring to a boil. Cook 1 1/2 minutes.  Serve over 1 cup pasta.

Enjoy!