One-pot Tomato Basil Chicken Pasta

I recently had a girlfriend tell me she wakes up thinking about dinner, but not in that good way when you can’t wait to tuck into a meal. Instead she wallows in her morning coffee about what dish she can finesse into her day so it winds up on the table in-time for dinner. It’s the same ole song we all sing. Honestly, the only way I can survive the dinner question is by devising a meal plan on the weekend. (Plus it justifies the hour I exclusively date the internet on Sundays.) Otherwise I have a panic attack at 2pm that I didn’t take anything out of the freezer. I also like to have a few family traditions like breakfast for dinner night, Mexican night and, of course, pizza night. This way even the menu planning is easier since I have a schedule to work within. I usually mix those regular evenings up as well. For instance, we had a chili night in January that has recently morphed into soup night. However, everyone has to do what works best for them. I have another friend who told me her meal plan is actually her son’s school lunch menu from the week before. On Mondays when she drop the boys off at school, she snaps a photo of the week’s lunch menu on the wall and then, voila, it’s next week’s dinner plan. I thought it was brilliant idea since she gets feedback on every meal before she even lifts a finger to prepare it. “Oh, what’s that you say? The green beans on Tuesday tasted like flower stems? Well, ok, scratch that. It’s your favourite roasted broccoli instead.” How smart is that?

How you arrive at your weekly dinner plan is between you and the refrigerator but I hope you work this little, one pot pretty into it. It has made more than a few appearances on pasta night in my kitchen. After all, it has all the components of successful dinner–one pot, pasta, chicken and it pairs lovely with a glass of red wine. Well, the last one really doesn’t matter.  Ok, it does.