This is one of my family’s favorite meals – my husband would eat it every night of the week if he could! I love it because it looks so fancy, so you can fool everyone into thinking you’ve been in the kitchen for hours! It’s called “cajun” chicken pasta because of the cajun spices, but you can add as much or as little as you’d like to fit your taste.

Here’s what you’ll need:

     1 pkg chicken breast tenderloins

     Tony’s cajun seasoning

     1/2 onion, chopped

     2-3 cloves garlic, minced

     1/2 jar sundried tomatoes packed in oil

     handful of fresh basil, chopped

     1 lb penne rigate pasta

     3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

     small carton heavy cream

This is the MOST important ingredient! They are amazing! No one in my house likes tomatoes, but we love these! They taste very sweet so they balance out the spices, and add pretty color to the dish. They are in the grocery store with the canned tomatoes. Also, fresh basil looks and tastes the best, but you can use dried if you have to. I have some growing at home because I cook with it alot (and I love the smell!), but I have seen it in the produce section of the grocery store.

Start by boiling your pasta in a large pot. You can prepare everything else while it’s boiling, so that it’s ready to be added at the end.

Season the chicken with the Tony’s on both sides, as much or as little as you want. There’s no need for salt and pepper, because the cajun seasoning has everything already in it.

Next, cook your chicken in a large skillet in a little olive oil (or whatever oil you have) until it’s completely done, about 5-7 minutes per side depending on high your heat is.

While the chicken is cooking, go ahead and chop up your garlic and onion. If your jar of tomatoes do not come already cut up, you can chop these now also.

Remove the cooked chicken from skillet and set aside to cool a little bit, then add garlic and onions to same pan. Saute until tender. They will turn dark because of the drippings in pan from chicken.

While they are sauteing, cut up the cooked chicken into bite-sized pieces. When the garlic and onion are cooked enough, about 2-3 minutes, add the chicken pieces back in, along with the sundried tomatoes.

Cook just another minute or two, then stir in the heavy cream.

Stir in the parmesan cheese next to make the sauce for the pasta. The sauce will actually turn kind of orange because of the tomatoes, but don’t be nervous – it’s good!

After the cheese is melted, stir the boiled and drained pasta into the sauce and top with the basil. Your family will be so impressed!

This takes me about 30-40 minutes total to make, but it will look (and taste) like it took you hours! Serve it with some garlic bread and a salad for beautiful meal.

Thanks y’all!

• Nikki

I get asked all the time what my daughter’s bedroom paint color is called, as well as where I found some of the decorations in her room. So, I decided to make my second blog post about my 13-year old daughter’s room.

When we were deciding on a paint color, we wanted a unique color, but also one that would “grow” with her. The one we chose is Sherwin Williams “aquaduct,” and we couldn’t be more in love with it!

When we first built our house the accent colors in this bedroom were hot pink and white, which also looked very cute against the aqua. The teenage years, however, call for something a little more “sophisticated,” so we transitioned to black, white and gold accents.

The original pink and white curtains were swapped out for these black and white quatrefoil panels, purchased from amazon.com. I scored this elegant black vanity chair from my local T.J.Maxx store, and the vanity itself was given to Allyson by her aunt. We took her small pink accents, such as picture frames, and spray painted them gold. Here is something else we spray painted gold –

We wanted a unique way to hang jewelry close to her vanity table, so we started looking around outside for inspiration. We originally thought a tree branch would be cool, but then we saw this deer skull and knew this was it! Hunting is big part of our culture here in Louisiana, so there was no shortage of deer antlers to choose from. We spray painted the entire skull with a shiny gold color, then drilled a small hole in the back to secure to the wall with a screw. The antlers are perfect for hanging necklaces, bracelets, headbands, etc.

We even spray painted the drawer knobs on this dresser gold to match. One can of $4 gold spray paint went a long way!

Now I have to talk about this chair! Don’t you just want to curl up in it right now?!? And yes – it IS as soft and comfy as it looks! There were originally small white bookcases in this corner of the room, but Allyson thought they looked too cluttered, and also really wanted somewhere to sit besides the bed. After searching online and in local stores, we found this one from Pottery Barn Teen, and we knew it was the one! Of course it was the most expensive one we found, but since we hadn’t spent much on updating the rest of the room, we decided to splurge on it.

The pictures in the shape of a heart were Allyson’s idea from something she saw on Pinterest. We originally put them up with sticky-tack, but they kept falling since that part of the wall is slanted. I didn’t want to use thumbtacks because of all the holes they would leave in the wall, so I ended up using straight pins, like the ones in the sewing section of stores. They are too tiny to leave a noticeable hole, and also aren’t visible on the pictures.

The nightstand in the corner was originally painted pink, and we just painted it white to match everything else. The black and white polka dot sheets are Cynthia Rowley, found at T.J.Maxx, the cheetah rug in front of the bed is from Ballard Designs, the accent pillows both came from Hobby Lobby, and the white fabric headboard with nailhead trim came from amazon.com.

I hope she is satisfied with the black, white and gold accent colors for a LONG time! But when she does get ready for a change, I’m thinking navy and coral would look pretty with the aqua wall color.

Thanks y’all!

• Nikki