Sauteed Chicken and Veggies with Orzo Pasta

This dish comes from IHeartPublix's chicken challenge:

Sauteed Chicken and Veggies with Orzo Pasta
4 medium boneless, skinless chicken breasts, chopped into chunks
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup scallions, chopped
1 medium bell pepper, chopped
2 cups broccoli, chopped
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 cup matchstick-style carrots
1 cup asparagus, chopped into 1 inch pieces
1/4 cup olive oil (+ 2 teaspoons for sauteing)
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup toasted sliced almonds
3/4 cup crumbled bleu cheese
1 pound box orzo pasta
-Saute chicken, garlic, and scallions in 1 teaspoon of olive oil until chicken cooked through. Remove from heat and allow to cool. While chicken cools, saute the remainder of vegetables (broccoli, bell pepper, mushrooms, carrots, asparagus) in 1 teaspoon olive oil for approximately 5-7 minutes (I prefer the veggies to be a little crunchy rather that cooked through). Allow vegetables to cool for 15 minutes and mix with chicken.
-Cook orzo pasta in boiling, salted water until al dente. Drain pasta and rinse with cold water. Set aside.
-Mix remaining olive oil and rice wine vinegar, pour over chicken and vegetable mixture, and toss to combine.
-Add cooked orzo pasta to chicken and vegetable mixture and toss to combine.
-When ready to serve, add almonds and bleu cheese, stir, and enjoy!
This dish is easy to store in the refrigerator, and is great for left-overs since the flavors keep developing. I have also found myself substituting other types of pasta, if it’s on sale (like this past week!), or changing up the veggies to what I have on hand.

I used asparagus, colored pepper, and carrots for my veggies. Since I don't like blue cheese, I served mine with parmesan cheese. My husband tried it both ways and assures me that it tasted MUCH better with the blue cheese. "The vinegar shows off the sweetness of the blue cheese." If I make this again, I'll try using half as much vinegar. I think it's a very flexible recipe and would work well with whichever veggies you like/are on sale. Certainly if you have leftover raw veggies from something else or your garden, this would be a great way to use them up with stockpile foods.

We'll see how my husband likes the leftovers later this week when the flavors have "developed".