I just sent my middle child, Alex, off to Kindergarten for the first day today. You think if you’d done it once before it would be a piece of cake the second time, right? I sure did. I managed to get him up and corral both him and his brother through the morning time routine without too much issue (aside from waking Alex and getting him out of bed; a herculean task to be sure). Scott came back to the house for the official send-off and we snapped the first day obligatory pictures. We even made it to the bus stop without incident and Alex, a bit reluctant and apprehensive, boarded with his brother and promptly drove away.
Alex (right) at the bus stop with his friend Aiden; both on their first day of Kindergarten
It wasn’t until I was walking back to the house that the lump began to appear. You know the one. It starts in your stomach and works it’s way up. You think you’re fine and then the wave hits.
My kids are growing up.
As I journeyed back from that bus stop I thought about first words, first steps, and the first day of preschool. I remembered the joyous day when Alex was born and the day he walked down the aisle at preschool in his graduation cap and gown. We love our children more than words can express and after five years of nurturing them day in and day out, the time comes to give them their first taste of independence and allow them to begin blooming into the beautiful flower they are destined to become. While it’s never easy to let go, the reward of seeing your baby turn into an amazing young man or woman is worth every moment.
In honor of Alex’s first day of kindergarten I present to you a truly delicious masterpiece of a meal. Remember that pesto we swirled up on Friday? Go ahead and grab it because you’re gonna need it.
Start out by cooking up a few choice slices of bacon. Once cooked up, remove it from the pan. Next you’ll add in a hearty portion of chopped up chicken.
When your chicken is cooked through about half way, add in a few handfuls of mushrooms and a couple cloves of garlic.
Drop in a few green onions and cook until the chicken juices run clear. Chop up the bacon and throw that back into the mix as well.
Time for the most delicious word in the culinary dictionary. Deglaze – With a slosh or two of white wine and chicken broth that is.
Turn the heat down to low and add in a splash of cream and hearty cup of your homemade pesto. Swirl it all together and serve over fresh cooked noodles.
Raising children is such an extraordinary roller coaster of emotions and at the end of the day, I’m ecstatic to be blessed enough to take the ride.
Pesto Pasta with Chicken Bacon and Mushrooms
Yield: Approx. 5 1 Cup Servings
Total Time: 30 min
Ingredients:
6 Slices Bacon
1/2 Pound Chicken, Cubed
5 Oz. Mushrooms, Sliced
2 Cloves Garlic, Minced
3 Green Onions, Chopped
1/2 Cup White Wine
1/2 Cup Chicken Broth
1/2 Cup Heavy Cream
3/4 Cup Pesto
Directions:
Cook up the bacon on medium heat. Remove from the pan, chop and set aside.
To the same pan add in the chicken.
When the chicken is half cooked through, add in the mushrooms and garlic.
Cook for 1 to 2 minutes and add in the green onions.
Pour in the white wine and deglaze the pan.
Add in the chicken broth.
Turn the heat down to low and mix in the cream and pesto.
Serve over cooked pasta.
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Both of those boys are so cute!!
Alex looks so cute and adorable! May God bless him. Pasta is one of Mike’s favortie and I know he’d love this recipe. Great photography Julie.
Congrats to Alex! He’ll love Kindergarten 🙂
Oh my!! How big they are!! I am sure he will love making new friends. They are adorable 🙂 God bless.
The recipe looks delicious, it makes a great dinner and it pretty easy to prepare. Thanks for this great recipes you always share with us.
Hugs
What a great recipe and a lovely post Julie; you are bringing back memories of school days with my 4 boys. Of course, Alex is adorable…don’t tell him I said that.
Rita
I’m soooo dying for a home cooked meal. This looks great, Julie. Lame ol’ Hurricane Irene!
OMG could your little guy be any cuter!?! I died just a little bit when I saw that picture. 🙂
How lovely the kids are..am sure they will be enjoying their first day at school, Julie.
New beginnings are always bittersweet, aren’t they? What a wonderful photo you posted. (Photo of the boys, I meant, although the pasta photo is pretty great too!)
Such adorable boys! And the pasta looks really yummy!
Yummie! Chicken, bacon, mushroom in pesto sauce…delicious!
Alex in SO cute.
Hope you have a great Labor Day weekend 🙂
Oh, I really feel for you….but I had that lump there last year when we moved away from our home area and I left my grown children (who grew way to quickly). I felt it should have been the other way around – them leaving home and not me. It is never easy no matter how old you all get!
Your pasta looks YUMMY. I’m really into pesto right now but Grumpy, not so much!
Aww…what a sweet post! I had a taste of the letting go recently…but because we homeschool, it was in the form of my 12 year old daughter going on a mission trip with our church and was away from home for 5 nights…with, get this…NO communication!
That was hard and strange….so I can definitely relate. Because I did have to work outsite the home the first 3 years of her life (and have been home ever since), I can also relate to letting go when they are very young. It’s hard no matter when it happens. 🙂
This recipe looks great…and I love bacon added to anything!
How good does this look?! I love the mushrooms in it…have mushrooms on the brain this morning. 🙂
I know the LUMP very well.
I made this yesterday – minus the bacon… DELICIOUS!
Do you know how approximately many calories are in this meal?
This looks amazing! Congrats to Alex on his first days of Kindergarten!!
Love this recipe… how many would this serve?
Julie replied: — January 17th, 2012 @ 7:06 am
Hey Danielle! I would guess that this would serve about 5 one cup servings. It fed our family of 5 (3 of which are young children) and we had one adult serving’s worth left over for the next day.