Novel Noodles: Pesto Chicken And Lemon Spinach Skillets

While Six-Seven-Eight covers a wide range of cooking styles for just about any meal of the day, pasta has been a part of our regular cuisine since I made fettuccine alfredo for Megan when we first started dating and couldn't afford to go out.

There's a whole world beyond spaghetti with tomato sauce, however, which is why we've been running our "Novel Noodles" series exploring interesting and unique takes on pasta meals. To get caught up, check out the previous noodle excursions with our awesome bean-based "Rustica Sausage and Fusilli" or the impromptu "Cheeseball Bake."

Today we'll look at two twists on pasta dinners that are not only a little different form the norm, they are also very easy and won't leave you with quite as many dishes after the meal. First up is our pesto chicken pasta, which we make with store bought ingredients (a departure from the norm for us, as we generally make our own sauces).

To get this started, you just need a small jar of basil pesto and some chili pepper blend - you can usually find a tube of this stuff near the fresh herbs at the supermarket.

Heat both in a skillet, while simultaneously cooking your pasta in boiling water in another pan. This particular dish works best with shorter, fatter pastas like bowties, rotini, or penne.

If you like meat in your pasta, cook a chicken breast underneath the broiler until it's just cooked through and turning golden brown on the outside. Season with standard Italian favorites like oregano, basil, and pepper.

After your pasta is al dente, throw it into the skillet with the basil and chile pepper blend and mix thoroughly, adding more pesto as needed to coat.

Cut the chicken into thin strips and toss them in with the pasta. If chicken isn't your thing, this would be great with slices of sausage or even shrimp.

Keep mixing until everything is coated in delicious flavor and heated through.

Scoop up the pasta and sliced chicken and serve in a bowl for a one-stop meal (you'll probably want some shredded Parmesan on top) or on a plate with a side salad.

Another fairly quick and easy meal we like to make with a store bought sauce is our lemon-spinach pasta. This one uses a lot more veggies, however. For both color, flavor, and texture we're slicing up red and orange bell pepper, mushrooms, and fresh spinach.

Toss it all in a skillet along with two or three large Italian sausages. We recommend the kind served up at the butcher block rather than pre-packaged or frozen, and you can frequently find these on manager's special for  a dollar or even 50 cents a piece if you go on the weekend or just before they get in a new shipment of meat.

To make this incredibly easy our sauce is just going to be the "Savory Lemon and Herb" flavored Philadelphia cooking creme. If you want to make your own sauce, a simple Alfredo with heavy cream, Parmesan, and fresh squeezed lemon would do nicely.

Slice up the sausage after it's heated through, and then return it to the skillet and mix together so everything is coated in sauce. Once again, serve this one in a bowl for a one-stop meal or on a plate with a side salad. Top with ground pepper and some shredded cheese.