Orzo, a underated pasta

Last night I whipped up a quick dish for a late dinner. I had taken out some chicken tenders (the long bits that are inside a chicken breast. Don't have any? Just use a chicken breast) and some frozen chopped spinach the day before. I had some feta that I wanted to use since I had just bought another package of it, no need to have 2 packages of feta in the fridge. And I had picked up some of the new Kraft Pure Olive Oil based dressing on sale at the grocery store. I usually make my own dressings but with summer approaching and salad season about to hit me hard, I like to have some quick options on hand. I picked up the sun dried tomato and the balsamic vinaigrette. I now have a total of 4 ready to go dressings in my fridge and tonight I'm making a grilled shrimp caesar salad with my own homemade low fat caesar dressing... Yep. that's logical. Hey, the store bought dressings last a couple of months so I'm good for the summer. Back to last night's dinner.

So I had some chicken and spinach. I thought I'd do them in a sort of saute pan supper. Pasta? sure. I pulled out some orzo, the rice shaped pasta. This is a great pasta for salads and mixed dishes. I boiled 3 handfuls (fancy measuring, eh?).

Warm Orzo Salad

Ingredients:

• Orzo (3 handfuls for 3 small meals)
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup chopped red onion
• 1/2 cup chopped red and orange pepper
• 6 oz. chicken tenders or breast meat, diced
• 2 cups frozen spinach
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta
• 2 tbsp sun dried tomato salad dressing

Instructions:

1. Cook Orzo according to instructions on package. Set aside when done.
2. Heat oil in a pan over medium high heat
3. Saute red onion and peppers until tender
4. Add chicken and saute until cooked through
5. Add in spinach and cook until heated through
6. Toss in Orzo and salad dressing and heat through
7. Put on plates and top with feta.

You can do this dish without the chicken for a great vegetarian dish or a nice side dish. You can also serve it cold! Orzo is great for cold pasta salads. The shape and texture is really nice.