butternut squash penne with baked chicken

My daughter and I went to Costco today around noon, which was a perfect time for food sampling! They were having the pasta sauce sample - Dave's Gourmet Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce. My food taster (aka my daughter) loved it! So I bought it. :) It goes really well with Italian breadcrumbs-crusted chicken, which can be either pan fried or baked.

Ingredients:

Penne pasta - 3 cups (measured when uncooked)

Butternut squash sauce - 2 cups

Onion - 1 small (sliced)
Red/Yellow pepper - 2 cups (sliced)
Garlic - 2 cloves (minced)

Chicken - 2 breasts
Italian Breadcrumbs -2 cups **see TIPS
Eggs - 2 (beaten)
Flour - to coat chicken
Salt & Pepper

Butter - 2 TBS

Prep:

1. Flatten chicken breasts slightly. Season with salt and pepper. 
2. Coat chicken with flour, egg and then roll on breadcrumbs. Set it aside. 
3. Cook Penne pasta according to package instruction. 
4. Cut veggies in strips (about 2-inch in length) 
5. If you are baking chicken, line baking pan with parchment paper.  Coat it with olive oil. 

Blending panko with Italian seasoning

 Cook:

1. [Chicken bake] Preheat the oven to 375 F. Bake chicken for 7 minutes, then turn to the other side and bake for another 8 minutes or golden brown. Take it out of the oven and let it sit in the pan. 
2. [Chicken pan fry] Coat pan with 2 TBS of olive oil. Fry one side of the chicken for 3-5 minutes. Turn and fry for another 3-5 minutes, or until golden brown. Turn the heat off, cover the pan and leave the chicken in the pan until later use.
3. On a frying pan, heat butter until melted. Fry onion until fragrant and somewhat transparent. 
4. Add in red/yellow peppers in and fry for another 2 minutes.
5. Add in Butternut squash sauce. Let it bring to boil. Then turn the heat off. Set it aside.

Serve:

1. In a bowl, put penne pasta and top it with baked/pan fried pasta, then pour the butternut squash sauce on top.
2. Sprinkle with cheese if you want. :) 

TIPS

• If you don't have Italian breadcrumbs, but Panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) instead, you can blend 2 cups of Japanese breadcrumbs with 1 TBS of Italian seasoning.