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Recently, I’ve been having a major hair stylist dilemma and I don’t know what to do so maybe YOU can help me! Basically, my current hair stylist is amazing and I love her and we’re actually good friends (I think that’s also part of the problem in this equation). She recently went on an entrepreneurial endeavor and opened up her very own salon! Yay! The problem, you see, is that the past three times I saw her, she ran 30-40 minutes behind but since my appointment is at a certain time, I showed up at my booked appointment time but I wasn’t seen until 30-40 minutes later. It’s very frustrating because I basically can’t make plans the rest of the night (say, dinner with friends) because getting my hair done is a 2.5 hour time suck + travel time (it takes me about 35 minutes to drive there). I get that being late is beyond her control sometimes (clients can be running late, something not going right in the cut/hair color, etc) but when it happens three times in a row, it’s making me wonder if it’s her that isn’t picking up the pace or keeping things on time.
Ok part two of this story: there’s this brand new salon that opened up near me and it’s right next to my Pure Barre studio. Pure Barre & this salon are 30 seconds from my house. No joke. I went to this studio on Friday and I was in and out in 50 minutes. The style/haircut were very similar, I honestly couldn’t tell a difference. My problem is…I don’t know if I should break up with my friend or suck it up and keep going to her. It’s really hard because I want to support her new business but I don’t really have much to gain because 1. travel time, 2. it’s $10 more expensive for a cut, and 3. wait time. I guess in a sense, I’m torn because I know what it takes to run a small business and it sucks to not get support, but on the flip side, it’s hard for me to justify doing all that travel when I can just shimmy on down to this new hair salon and be in and out in 50 minutes flat. Ahhh what would you do?
Maybe I should stop being friends with people who give me service so I can make a clean break if need be, haha
Hair dilemmas aside, I’m dying to tell you about this pasta dish! I went on a huge basil pesto kick several weeks ago because I literally had basil up to my eyeballs and what do you do when life gives you basil? Make pesto! And make this basil pesto chicken pasta with sundried tomatoes and broccoli. Whew, what a mouthful.
I had a box of unused orecchiette in the pantry so I decided to use them in this dish because I love that the little ‘ears’ catch all the pesto and yummy goodness. This dish will literally take you like less than 30 minutes to make so no excuses! Go grab some pesto (just replace the arugula with basil) and get this on your dinner table tonight!
Basil Pesto Chicken Pasta with Sundried Tomatoes and Broccoli
Ingredients
- 2 cups (150 g) dried orecchiette pasta
- ¼ cup sundried tomatoes in olive oil, julienned
- 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- ½ large onion, diced
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, (if you're sensitive to spice you might want to start out with 1/4 teaspoon)
- 1 chicken breast, cubed
- 4 tablespoons basil pesto*, homemade or store-bought
- 1 cup (91 g) broccoli, blanched
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook pasta according to the directions on the box. Once done, drain well and set aside.
- In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add sundried tomatoes, garlic slices, onion, and crushed red pepper flakes. Sauté until fragrant and onions are translucent, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add the cubed chicken breast to the skillet and cook until the chicken is cooked through, about 5-7 minutes.
- Add the basil pesto to the skillet and turn heat down to medium-low. The basil pesto might be a bit thick so you can thin it out by adding 1 tablespoon of water to the skillet, if needed.
- Add the broccoli and cooked pasta to the skillet. Toss until everything is coated in the pesto and the ingredients are all evenly distributed. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Serve and enjoy!
Delicious! Great blend of flavors and the pasta makes it all that much more special. Hubby who is a real meat hound said this was a keeper. I only used the 1/4 tap red pepper and that was perfect.
Glad you enjoyed!!!
I couldn’t even get to the recipe due to the tone of how this post started. It says quite a bit about you and I won’t be looking at any other of your shallow post!! What the hell does your female hairstylist struggling to make a change for the better, depending on other females to support her have to do with a freakin recipe?!?!
Shame on you!!
Well considering you made it down to the comments section, bravo on you for getting past the recipe! You do realize you’re on a fucking BLOG right? Meaning a blog is a journal where the writer uses it like a diary? This isn’t a RECIPE SITE. This is a BLOG. With a real fucking human behind it that has a story to tell. So, THAT is what it has to do with the freakin recipe. Shame on you for shaming me for writing what I want on my blog.
@Julie Wampler, You go, girl!
“Fuckin’ pesto, man. This dish is the tits,” said my husband, shoveling pasta into his mouth.
LOL
Any tips to keep the orecchiette from sticking together?
Add a little bit of oil into the pasta water :)
FABULOUS RECIPE. EASY TOO.
I made this dish tonight for dinner. WOW was it gooooood!! I make pesto with cilantro…Mexican flavours. So it was a little twist on the recipe but yummy
Hi Julie (?)! I love your blog, just stumbled on this recipe…I gotta say the rest of your blog looks amazing! I’m also trying to be a successful food blogger- you give me inspiration! thanks! also, I’m a college student, so this recipe is awesome for a quick and easy dinner. :) Keep at it ~
Aw thank you so much, Elaine! What a sweet comment. <3
I made this for dinner last night. I’m constantly looking for pasta dishes without cream or cheese. This was delicious and definitely a keeper! I can’t wait to make it again.
We tried this last night. I used homemade pesto, chicken and broccoli just as you described. I also added Parmesan and a it of lemon juice at the end for Extra flavor. It was yummy! Next time I would remove sundried tomatoes and onions from pan, then cook chicken, then add veggies back in. As directed the tomatoes garlic and onion had a burnt flavor because they were over cooked while the chicken cooked through. But I think the recipe is a keeper. So many great flavors! Thank you!
So glad you enjoyed this!!
Thank you for sharing this! I made this recipe two nights ago and it was a success! I did not have sun dried tomatoes on hand so I left that out, but it was still sooo good. Even all four of my children aged 2 through 17 licked their plates clean. I added the chicken last, since my 13 year old is a vegetarian – I took hers out before adding the meat. She thought it was supper filling without the chicken too. Thank you, this will be in my rotation from now on!
I’m so happy to hear everyone enjoyed this!!