When life gives you lemons....

Our dinner theme for tonight consisted of lemons. I felt like the Iron Chef trying to find different ways to incorporate lemons into each dish. I'm not sure if its the pregnancy or what, but lately I have enjoyed cooking with the brightly colored citrus fruit. Its a simple way to add a touch of fresh cleanliness to a meal. The first side dish is roasted broccoli, which is the so-called "best broccoli recipe ever" according to The Amateur Gourmet. You can find the recipe here. I do highly agree that it is one of the best ways I have ever cooked broccoli. It beats my old traditional way of steaming it with a touch of garlic salt. I didn't have pine nuts so I substituted with slivered almonds.

Pasta made up the next side dish. Lately I've been on the search for different ways to cook pasta since my daughter is picky and tends not to eat anything with a sauce. I found this recipe for pasta with garlic breadcrumbs. I was immediately attracted to its simplicity and deliciously looking flavorful elements. I held out on the garlic since there was so much of it in the other two dishes and I added a little splash of fresh lemon juice to the bread crumbs. My husband stated that it was a little bland if you didn't take a bite that had bread crumbs in it. For me, it was light and perfectly accented the lemon chicken main dish. 

I found a Barefoot Contessa lemon chicken recipe on non other than my favorite website, Pinterest. I was worried that the chicken was going to be over powered by garlic since it calls for 9 cloves of minced garlic. I've been very sensitive to garlic lately with my pregnancy but I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't overly powerful. All in all, I thought the chicken had a freshly citrus and clean flavor. I will definitely be making it again in the future. 

Enjoy!!