Chicken with Arugula Pesto

I found this recipe in one of my Food Network magazines. Originally I bought all of the correct items and was going to make it exactly as the recipe read... but by the time I got around to making it half of the food wasn't looking too great so I threw it out and winged it with what I had, haha. On top of that, I was in a hurry trying to do 100 things at once so I kind of changed how this is cooked so my hands would be free for other things. I'll give you the original recipe and then tell you what I changed!

Kosher salt
6 ounces orecchiette
1/2 lb green beans, trimmed and cut in to pieces
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
3 cups baby arugula
1/2 cup firmly packed fresh parsley
2 Tbsp almons or hazelnuts, toasted
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
3 Tbsp water
4 small skinless, boneless chicken breasts
2 medium tomatoes, halved
2 tsp whole-wheat breadcrumbs

• Bring pot of salted water to a boil, add pasta and cook as directed on the box. About three minutes before pasta is done add the green beans.
• Drain pasta and beans and rinse under cold water. Toss with half of cheese, 1 Tbsp olive oil, lemon zest, and salt.
• Preheat the broiler.
• Puree the arugula, parsley, nuts, lemon juice, water, remaining cheese, 1 Tbsp olive oil, and salt to taste in food processor. Transfer to a boil.
• Pound chicken to about 1/2 inch thick, transfer to foil lined baking sheet and season with salt. Rub all over with 1/4 cup of pesto and broil, turning once, until cooked through (about 4-5 minutes per side).
• Arrange tomatoes, cut side up on another baking sheet and broil for 2 minutes. Spread with pesto and sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Broil until golden (about one more minute).
• Serve chicken, tomatoes, and pasta with remaining pesto.

Ok, as you can see, this doesn't really look like the instructions say it should! My husband doesn't like tomatoes so we didn't use those and the green beans were looking pretty bad so I ended up using the broccoli we had. I also made a couple more changes!

• We couldn't find orecchiette so I ended up buying shells since they were kind of similar. I could not find plain arugula either. All the store had was a pack of arugula and spinach together, so the pesto is actually arugula and spinach.
• I preheated the oven to 375 degrees and cooked the chicken (we like to use both breast and thighs) for about 30 minutes while I prepared the rest of the meal. I did not pound it flat before I cooked it either.
• I threw some lemon juice in the pasta mix to add a little flavor.
• Then as things were getting close to done I put the pesto on top of the chicken and topped with the bread crumbs (we used panko instead) and some almonds and switched to the broiler. I left it in for another 5-10 minutes, or until it started turning golden brown on top.

My only tip is to be careful with the salt. For some reason it seems when I cook with Kosher salt things get saltier way faster and pesto is one of those things we've noticed seems to be too salty! I dialed it waaaay back for this meal and it was a lot better than it has been in the past.