Sunday Night and Chicken with Pistachio Pesto

Weekend: the fastest 2 days of the week. Tonight on day 2 of the happiest days of the week, I made another recipe from the Rose Reisman cookbook ( The Complete Light Kitchen ) that I got from the library. It was a simple chicken recipe- perfect for the rush of Sunday night dinner after skating lessons.



I couldn't find the recipe online, so I'll type it out here.

1/4 cup shelled pistachios
1/2 c basil leaves (well packed)
1 small clove of garlic
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp lemon juice
4 skinless boneless chicken breasts (about 1 lb)
1/4c flour
2 tsp vegetable oil

mix first 5 in a small food processor. (add water if mixture is too thick)

pound chicken breasts b/w pieces of waxed paper to 1/2 thickness. Dust with flour.

Spray non-stick pan and then add vegetable oil and place over high heat. Saute chicken 3-5 minutes or until lightly browned on both sides and not pink in the center.

Place on individual plates and serve with a dollop of pesto on top.

----------------------- 8 points per serving
Cals: 344/ fat:17g (sat2.7g)/ fiber 1.3g

In terms of recipe changes, I actually skipped the extra vegetable oil. I'm not sure what the flour added to the grilling. I usually just grilled without flour- I used a grill pan, btw- and the flour didn't "seem" to add a lot of new flavour. I might try it again without the flour. You could also probably cut back on the olive oil a bit, though the pesto didn't seem greasy in any way.

The pesto was really good and younger dd helped with the pistachio shelling, but other than that none of my family would have a part of the pesto. ( I personally LOVE pesto, but dh doesn't like basil for some crazy reason. Go figure, eh? The man misses out on some of the best flavours of life, I tell ya. )

Anyway, it was quick and tasty. The pesto was flavourful and I've never made it with pistachio nuts before.

In exercise news, this weekend has been pretty l-a-z-y with a day scrapbook crop for me on Saturday AND a kids' bday followed by a craft store open house- not a lot of movement over all for me (though the dds worked up a sweat at the playhouse bday party- adults weren't allowed on the equipment, though we had to take off our shoes anyway. lol.) Tomorrow's step class and boot camp will hopefully get me back on track exercisewise.