Cajun Chicken Pasta for When You Don't Feel Like Grocery Shopping

One talent I have always had is making up recipes from the stuff I have on hand in the house. This talent was achieved by my lifelong affliction of extreme laziness about going to the grocery store. Last week, I just didn't feel like going AT ALL - so I ended up rifling through the cabinets and the freezer to see if I had anything that could be mixed into some kind of edible meal. I found a couple frozen, boneless chicken breasts, a bag of broccoli florets, some half and half, a block of asiago cheese, half a box of rotini pasta and a container of cajun spice rub. I combined it all to make a Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta! It came out *great*, so Adam suggested I write down a recipe and put the dish into our regular rotation. Here's how I made it: I took two chicken breasts and cut them across the middle into thinner filets. I rubbed them generously with a prepared cajun spice rub and baked them in the oven on a cedar plank. I love cooking chicken, pork and shrimp on a piece of seasoned cedar board. It imparts a sweet, smoky flavor and makes the food come out very juicy! I got my roasting plank from Amazon. While the chicken was roasting, I melted a couple tablespoons of butter in a saucepan, added 2 cups of half and half, and slowly brought it to a boil. I let it cook down for a while until it was slightly thickened. Then I stirred in a couple cups of freshly grated asiago cheese and a few grinder turns of black pepper. I let the sauce sit on low heat while I steamed the broccoli and cooked the pasta. Once the broccoli and pasta were cooked, I stirred them together with the cream sauce. I sliced the chicken and added that. I threw in a handful of parsley and a bit of sea salt. Voila -- dinner! A lot of the spice rub from the chicken mixed into the cream sauce and made it all the more delicious. https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2356/2345271817_0f3e52ae29_b.jpg