Twice last week I overheard Nick playing with Carly and while holding her up to the window he said “Look! An invisible force field!” I guess that’s what we’re calling windows these days. Well a few days later we were watching the movie Rio and the bird, referring to a window, said something like “I’m protected by an invisible force field.” I about died laughing. What are the odds of that!?
I LOVE panini sandwiches! That crispy bread, warm ingredients, and melted cheese… Y-U-M! I recently bought a ginormous jar of pesto from Costco and have been making everything pesto. Last week I threw these Chicken Pesto Panini sandwiches together for dinner with a side balsamic spinach salad. Completely satisfying! …so I made one for myself the next day for lunch. 🙂
Pesto Chicken Panini
Ingredients
- 8 chicken tenders, cooked and shredded
- 1/3 cup basil pesto
- 1/3 cup roasted red pepper, diced
- 4 slices Muenster cheese
- 4 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1 cup baby spinach
- 4 ciabatta buns, sliced in half
- Butter
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, combine shredded chicken, pesto sauce, and red pepper.
- Spread mayonnaise on the inside of each bun.
- For each bun, layer with chicken mixture, cheese, and spinach.
- Close buns, lightly butter the top, and grill on panini press (or Foreman grill). Cook for 3-4 minutes or until buns are crispy and cheese is melted.
- Slice and serve.
Recipe Source: Inspired by Zupas Cafe
One more thing (I think I say too much!).
We grow a lot of basil so I typically freeze a lot of pesto. I am a big fan of pesto. It really holds its flavor after being frozen too. We love making pesto pizza with roasted red peppers, probably similar to this in taste. Yesterday we had chicken wraps with pesto, chicken and spinach. If I had roasted red peppers that would have been good too!
Okay I will end my comment now! 🙂
I think you like chicken! 🙂
This looks tasty! We have a George Foreman I picked up from Goodwill. I tried just roasting some veggies in it last week and it worked so nicely! How do you clean yours?
Judi 🙂
Judi- Yeah… I love chicken! 🙂 I’m going to be better about posting more variety though.
Cleaning the George Foreman is a PAIN! I wish I had one with removable grill plates so I could soak them. What I do though is get a few paper towels wet (ring out excess water) and then lay them in the grill, close it, and turn it on for like 2 minutes. This helps get whatever is stuck on there soft and then after unplugging and while the grill is still warm I rub really hard with more wet paper towels. I wear my rubber dish washing gloves while doing it so I can withstand the heat of the grill. The sandwiches aren’t hard to clean up after at all, but BBQ chicken is another story.
Good idea! I will have to try that next time! My grill plates do not remove either!