Open-Faced Grilled Chicken Sandwiches with Artichoke Pesto

First things first – have you folks checked out Jason’s awesome class on Skillshare yet? If you haven’t, now is the time!! Basically, he’s teaching an online class to teach people with fancy camera’s how to shoot and edit in RAW. Why shoot and edit in RAW, you might ask? The simple answer is that shooting in RAW format means that you can edit your photos to make them look perfectly awesome. And I’m not talking about editing them like you to in Instagram or iphoto, but making them look profesh. That way you can show off your family photos and have people wondering who was the professional that took all your photos while you grin and shrug, “I did. No biggie.” Except that now you ARE a big deal because you know how to edit your photos in raw.

The class starts NEXT MONDAY so stop wondering if you should or can do the class…it’s online! So you can! And I’m offering you all a great deal of 20% off with the promo code BUCKAROO if you sign up by Friday. That makes the class just $20! Whoo hoo! You can get more info and sign up HERE.

And, here’s a big ol bonus…if you can get 5 friends to sign up for Jason’s Skillshare class, I’ll get you in the class for FREE. Yep. You heard me.

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Ok…so back to the recipe that you came here for. I haven’t been cooking exciting meals much lately, mostly due to being just too busy. But my Cooking Light magazine showed up in the mail a week or so ago, and I was drooling over all the recipes they had. By the way, if you haven’t checked out that magazine in a while, it is SO much better than it used to be — beautiful photos, simple yet delicious recipes and shopping guides. I love it.

When I gave J this for dinner the other night he looked at it and said, “This looks fancy!” I guess it did, a little. Then again, I suppose any meal sprinkled with shaved Parmesan and parsley looks fancy. Best of all, it was easy to make and tasted amazing. I’m a sucked for artichoke dip as it is, so a sandwich that basically uses artichokes in the same way HAD to be good. And it was. SO. VERY. GOOD. And did I mention quick and easy? I served our sandwiches up with a little mushroom and asparagus salad (blanched asparagus tossed with sauteed mushrooms and onions, drizzled with olive oil and with a dash of salt and pepper. easy peasy). I think this recipe would also be really great served at a lunch or bridal shower.

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

• salt and pepper

• 1 T trader Joe’s 21 season salute *optional

• cooking spray (I used Coconut Oil)

• 6 oz. drained marinated artichoke hearts

• 2 oz. shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, divided (about 1/2 cup)

• 2 T pine nuts

• 2 T plain Greek yogurt

• 2 tsp olive oil

• 3 cloves of garlic

• 6 slices of sourdough or multi-grain bread, bakery loaf style

• 2-3 T freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley

TO MAKE:

Heat your grill or grill pan. Prep your chicken by cutting each breast in half to form two thinner cutlets, then spraying it breast with a bit of cooking oil on each side and sprinkling with salt and pepper. I also added Trader Joe’s 21 season salute, which is just an all purpose seasoning blend. When the grill is hot, add your chicken and cook about 10 minutes on each side, or until the chicken is cooked through.

In a blender or food processor, combine artichokes, 3 tablespoons of cheese, nuts, plan Greek yogurt, oil, 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper, and garlic. Pulse or blend until coarsely ground. You don’t want baby-food soft, but not lots of huge chunks, either.

On a baking sheet, lay out all your slices of bread. Add a light spray or brush of olive oil and stick in the oven on BROIL for less than a minute to toast the bread. WATCH THE OVEN! Broil can make your bread go from lightly toasted to charbroiled in a few seconds!! Once the bread is a light golden brown, pull them out and flip the bread over so that the golden side is on the bottom. Top each slice with a few tablespoons of the artichoke pesto. Slice up your grilled chicken and place a few slices on each piece of bread. Top with the remaining cheese and some parsley. Enjoy!

*recipe adapted from Cooking Light Magazine, May 2013

 

 

Back to Sanity (plus a great deal for all ya’ll)

“Stop seeking out the storms and enjoy more fully the sunlight.”
― Gordon B. Hinckley

If you ever notice radio silence on my end, just imagine me drowning in a sea of design and illustration projects, papers and sketchbooks stacked all around me, my hair a frizzy mess, a crazed look in my eyes and you’ll most likely be right. That’s pretty much been my life for the past couple of months. Busy isn’t the right word for it…crazy is more like it.

In the middle of all the deadlines and stress I threw up my white flag and begged J for a vacation. No hiking, no walking around a city all day, nothing that would require any planning or thought. I wanted to lay by a pool or beach and melt the stress away. J isn’t much for laying around so we agreed on a cruise instead. We could have adventures on islands and lay by the pool on the boat. Perfect.

I can honestly say that after 8 days for sipping lemonades and drifting around the Caribbean, I feel like a whole new person. Revived. Happy. Peaceful. Unfortunately, the projects and deadlines were waiting on me at home, but I feel armed and ready to tackle them. My head is calm and relaxed, finally free of that terribly buzzing of lists and deadlines that I had been carrying for the past 4 months.

And I have a new plan. Are you ready for it? It’s pretty simple. Less working and more living. Stop saying yes to everything and start being more selective. Take time to take walks and grab coffees with friends and actually see the ocean that’s practically out my door. I don’t want to hit that wall again — the one where I raise my white flag and yell a frantic “Uncle!” while struggling to hold everything together. It’s just not worth it. I want to enjoy life again, to have the time to pursue my friendships and breath fresh air.

I found this quote today and love it. It pretty much sums up the change I need to make:

“And so taking the long way home through the market I slow my pace down. It doesn’t come naturally. My legs are programmed to trot briskly and my arms to pump up and down like pistons, but I force myself to stroll past the stalls and pavement cafes. To enjoy just being somewhere, rather than rushing from somewhere, to somewhere. Inhaling deep lungfuls of air, instead of my usual shallow breaths. I take a moment to just stop and look around me. And smile to myself. For the first time in a long time, I can, quite literally, smell the coffee.”
― Alexandra Potter, The Two Lives of Miss Charlotte Merryweather

It’s time to slow down, my friends, and I’m gonna lead the charge.

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I’ll be posting a few vacation photos soon but here’s a great deal for you guys while you wait…

J is teaching an AWESOME class on Skillshare starting in 2 weeks that I wanted to share with all of you. It is a short online class to learn how to shoot and edit photos in RAW.

What does that mean?

Well, you know how you might take a photo and the coloring is off? People are yellow or dark? But then you see a professional photo and the color is perfect and everyone looks lovely and happy and there is angel dust everywhere? And you think that maybe the photographer just had a magical camera or something? Well the class will teach you how to achieve awesome photos like that. And it’s easy, friends. The class involves taking a few photos, then J walking you through how to edit them in AdobeBridge (which you can download a trial version of for FREE) to fix lighting and coloring problems.

This class is PERFECT for anyone who is a beginning photographer, for people who take good photos but don’t know how to edit in RAW, for wedding photographers who want to speed up their editing process and especially for mom’s who just love to take great pictures of their kiddos. AND, because I love you all so much, I’m giving you a promo code for 20% off the class (making the class a cheap and easy $20!). Just sign up here this week using the promo code VISUAL.

Dairy-Free Avocado Chocolate Mousse

If you told me a few years ago that I’d be making things for dessert like chocolate mousse made out of avocados and dates, I would have laughed at you. But I’ve learned a lot in the past few years about nutrition and have been trying to make better eating decisions for the healthy of my body (and the beauty of my waistline). The problem is that I LOVE food…and really love chocolate. So when J and I decided that we would adopt a paleo (ish) diet during the week, I quickly started craving all the things I couldn’t eat. Like cheese. And chocolate. And anything drenched in sugar.

Thankfully, my friend Chassie re-posted this amazing recipe earlier this week and I just happened to have a couple of ripe avocados ready to go. This recipe is super easy — it literally takes 5 minutes to make — the result is a thick, rich chocolate mousse that won’t make you feel like you’ve ruined all your workouts. You could totally serve this at a dinner party and nobody would have a clue that it’s made out of avocados; it’s that good. And yes, it’s also paleo, dairy free and raw.

INGREDIENTS
¾    cup dates, soaked in water until very soft and de-pitted (it took about 10 minutes for my dates to soften)
2     avocados
1     cup unsweetened almond milk
¾    cup raw cacao powder
½    cup organic maple syrup
A pinch of cinnamon (optional)

In a food processor or blender, combine all ingredients and blend until smooth and creamy. Refrigerate and top with your favorite garnish — coconut, almond slivers or raspberries would be great!

*This recipe was originally posted here.