Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Medallions with Pasta

We don't usually have many convenient frozen foods in our two freezers. They're mostly filled with frozen seafood and random cuts of meat that we breakdown beforehand. Our parents would be quick to argue that a stir-fry can be made quickly. I was always jealous of looking into other people's freezers and seeing stuff like frozen dinners, pizza pockets, chicken fingers, french fries, and waffles. We rarely had those in our freezer when we grew up.

To be honest, I don't mind spending a bit of time to cook something. The stuff we make is definitely healthier and tastier than the frozen stuff! But I'd rather make and eat Canadian or European food than Chinese food (dumplings and noodle soups aside). Some of it does have to do with my general disliking of steamed rice.

Frozen bacon-wrapped chicken medallions. Richard cooked the medallions on the stove with some fresh thyme we had growing in the backyard a few years ago. Everyone liked it so much that we've been cooking it that way ever since. The cooked medallions just seem too plain without the herbs now. Sometimes we just use the toaster oven to bake the medallions with the herbs instead of standing over the stove.

We made a quick broccoli cream sauce to go with cooked macaroni by boiling broccoli and a bit of garlic, and then puréeing it all with a roux and some cream. We had some buttered corn, broccoli, and sautéed onions and red peppers to go with everything. They just weren't in the picture.

Dinner was made in under half an hour. We finished everything in less time.