Lemon Parmesan Pasta with Chicken

I am a big fan  of cooking certain ingredients for a meal ahead of time. For instance, I cook all my ground beef and chicken ahead of time and store it in the freezer so it is ready to be added to a quick meal. If you are able to spend an hour on the weekend prepping, you can save yourself a lot of time throughout the week.  Simply pull out your cooked meat the day before you plan to use it and store it in the fridge to allow it to thaw.

• One tip I have is to store your cooked protein in serving size containers, either Ziploc or Tupperware containers. It is inconvenient to have to try to pry apart frozen chicken strips when you've frozen a three pounds of it in one Ziploc bag. (Not that I have ever done that..ahem.)
  

Onto the recipe! Many thanks to My Happy Meals for the original recipe that I slightly changed to suit our tastes. The lemon taste in this is very mild. In the past I have gone overboard with the lemon so this time I scaled it back. Using my already cooked chicken breast pieces saved a lot of time and made this a super quick, easy dinner.

Lemon Parmesan Pasta with Chicken
Makes 2-4 servings

1/2 lb. angel hair pasta (or less, depending on your family size)
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast, chopped into bite sized pieces, cooked 
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp butter
Zest & juice from one lemon, about 3 tablespoons of juice
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup reserved pasta water
1/2 cup whole milk (You can use a lower fat milk as well)

1. Bring large pot of water to a boil. Meanwhile, heat butter in large skillet. Saute garlic until fragrant. Set aside. Cook pasta according to package directions. Toss the cooked pasta with the chicken, lemon zest, milk, reserved pasta water, and garlic and butter mixture.

Adapted from a recipe at My Happy Meals