Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta

It was glorious outside today. First off, it was cloudy all day, and in the afternoon we got a lot of rain and thunder. Josh and I were watching Netflix in the living room and I would have to close the windows when the rain picked up and open them again when it died down--it did that like five times. Josh and I went on a short walk (it was nice out, albeit humid) and I found this beautiful hydrangea bush flower, which I took a picture of.

At around 5pm I went to go make dinner and for a brief moment feared for my life as I cooked with my electric skillet--the thunder was really, really loud, and accompanied by a great deal of lightning. I imagined sparks jolting through the power outlet in which my skillet was plugged and starting a fire, which made me realize if something like that were to actually happen, I'm not sure I would know what to do. We have a fire extinguisher (which I keep close ever since we got this gas stove, and which I promptly took out from under the cabinet), but I think I remember being told that there are certain situations in which a fire extinguisher won't really be effective, and for some reason my imagined scenario seemed like one of those situations.

I was able to finish my meal without killing myself or Josh, and it turned out better than I've ever made it! The original recipe comes from here. I've posted the picture of this meal from that website on my Facebook page before, but I never got around to posting the recipe (and besides, I think my picture of the meal is more appetizing than the one on the original website).

2 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts

4oz Linguine, cooked al dente (I had Spaghetti)

2 teaspoons of Cajun seasoning

2 Tablespoons butter (can substitute olive oil)

1-2 cups cream (can substitute 1/2 1% milk and 1/2 cream)

2 tablespoons chopped sun-dried tomatoes (I didn't have any)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon dried basil

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder (can substitute fresh minced garlic)

1-2 Tablespoons flour to thicken

Shredded or Grated Parmesan Cheese

Cut chicken breasts into bite-sized chunks, coat them in cajun seasoning, and saute them in butter over medium heat in a large, deep skillet about 5 to 7 minutes until tender or until you feel you will not get Salmonella (which I think is always a better indicator of when my chicken is done). Reduce heat and add cream, tomatoes, basil, salt, garlic, and black pepper and heat through. Add flour to thicken sauce as necessary, so that sauce is creamy. Pour over hot Linguine, and toss with Parmesan cheese. Easy! This recipe serves about 3-4 moderately hungry people or about 2 pastaholics, such as myself.

I personally do not like the chicken-to-sauce ratio in this recipe, so I will either use one chicken breast and leave everything else the same or use the two breasts and double everything but the amount of cream (I would then use closer to 2 c. cream), Cajun seasoning (I would then use about 3 Tbsp.), and flour (I would then use closer to 2 c. flour), the latter being what I did tonight, since I had about 2 cups of cream and 2 chicken breasts that I needed to use up. Needless to say, Josh and I will be enjoying this again tomorrow.