Lemon Chicken with Kale & Garbanzo Pasta

I haven't cooked chicken in a while, which is funny because it used to be my go-to when deciding what to make for dinner. Lately I find myself gravitating toward greens (particularly kale, arugula and bok choy) and I tend to just steam the greens with some garlic and leave it at that for my meal. In my experience, I've found that this is not sustainable for Nate and I both, so I decided to make something that would be hearty, healthy, and would produce leftovers (I LOVE leftovers!) This chicken is so good- super lemony and juicy. The pasta is less flavorful but I squeezed some extra lemon juice on mine and it was delish.


What you'll need:
For the chicken (slightly adapted from this recipe)
-A package of boneless chicken breast tenders (the original recipe calls for 4 chicken breasts)
-1/2 cup olive oil
-1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (about one whole lemon)
-8 cloves garlic, minced
-A few pinches of dried oregano
-8 lemon wedges (1 whole lemon sliced)
-Salt and pepper

For the pasta
-6-8 oz. whole wheat fettuccine (or whichever pasta you prefer)
-6 garlic cloves, minced
-1 small onion, coarsely chopped
-1 shallot, chopped
-Olive oil (just a drizzle for cooking garlic and onion)
-Bunch of kale, washed well with stems discarded, leaves torn into pieces
-15 oz. can of garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
-5 plum tomatoes, chopped


Directions for the chicken:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a pan, heat the olive oil. Add the garlic and cook for a couple of minutes.
3. Remove from heat and add the lemon juice and dried oregano. Stir together and pour into a baking dish.
4. Place the chicken into baking dish on top of sauce. Brush chicken with olive oil then squeeze the juice from two lemon wedges onto it. Sprinkle salt and pepper on top.
5. Place remaining six lemon wedges into baking dish and tuck around the chicken.
6. Bake for 30-45 minutes until chicken is fully cooked and slightly browned.
Directions for the pasta:
1. Boil water and cook pasta.
2. In a pan, drizzle the olive oil and cook garlic, shallot, and onion. After a few minutes, add the tomatoes and garbanzo beans. Wait a few more minutes and add the chopped kale. You can chop or rip the kale leaves into whatever size you prefer- I like to rip the leaves so they're still pretty big.
3. After the kale has started to wilt, add the cooked pasta to the pan. Mix everything well.
4. Serve pasta with chicken.

Enjoy! xx Courtney