Fright Night

Halloween. A time to revel in the spooky and weird. A time to be scared. Honestly? I don't really like being scared. I wasn't always this way - in fact, there's a running joke in my family that I didn't really "get" horror movies. Tales of me watching Poltergeist at a ridiculously young age. Stories of my parents walking in on me watching Candyman and crying about the sweet love story it portrayed ("He didn't want to leave her - even in death because he LOVED her!")

I blame The Ring. Honestly, that movie was the changing point for me. I spent a good portion of the movie on the floor of the theater, my face buried in the chair, hysterically crying. I'm fairly certain I remember Thatmom on the floor with me. Ever since that time I have been decidedly anti-scary movie. Or to be more precise, anti-psychological thriller scary movies. I'm totally fine with werewolves and vampires - as long as they don't glitter in the sunlight.

But during the month of October I give in totally and completely and let Thatboy go hogwild with the scary movies. Given that we're both currently home all day that means I have been treated to some real doozies. In fact, Thatboy has a new favorite - Satan's Little Helper which is basically the story of a child who must be mentally handicapped since he spends the entire movie helping a sociopathic killer choose and mutilate victims because he thinks the guy is Satan.

Today I got a small reprieve in the form of some much needed rest as I took a nap while Thatboy watched both the baby and his Halloween movie of choice - The Descent.

Of course, when I got up, that left me with a much more scary prospect - What's For Dinner? I know, words that can chill the bones of anyone faced with such a task. I decided to go with something Halloweeny and festive. A tribute to one of my favorite car songs as a child. As usual, the song was completely foreign to Thatboy, but perhaps you'll recognize it?

Great green gobs of greasy, grimey, gopher guts
mutilated monkey meat
little birdies' dirty feet
Great green gobs of greasy, grimey, gopher guts
and I forgot my spoon!

Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimey Gopher Guts (Chicken and Pesto Pasta)
1 chicken breast
1/4 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp dried rosemary
8 oz spaghetti
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup pesto

1. Combine basil, oregano, thyme, and rosemary and use this picture to cover chicken.
2. Cook spaghetti to your desired doneness.
3. As spaghetti is cooking, heat oil in a nonstick skillet. Cook chicken 6-7 minutes on each side until cooked through.
   
4. When pasta is done, don't drain it - use tongs to transfer hot pasta directly into serving bowl. Reserve the pasta water.
5. Chop chicken into bite sized pieces and add to pasta.
6. Toss pesto with the pasta and chicken, adding reserved pasta water to create a sauce of your desired thickness. (If you like your pesto sauce really thick, don't add any water. For a thinner sauce, add more water.)