Recipe Swap – Week 8: Chicken Spirals and Melon Salad

Monday’s can be fun – Anissa over at Our Chaotic Life hosts Recipe Swap Monday, Rachel from A Southern Fairy Tale hosts Mouthwatering Mondays, Mom2my9 at 11th Heaven hosts Homemaker Mondays, Felicia at Go Graham Go hosts Make Something Monday and Lisa over at Blessed With Grace hosts Tempt My Tummy Tuesday’s. Whew! Lots of fun stuff for the beginning of the week!

This week I’m keeping it simple and only participating in Anissa’s Recipe Swap – things have been really hectic around here, so I’ve had minimal time on my computer (and I’m going through some major withdrawals I tellya!) The Princess Nagger is closing in on her final 3 days of school – today she gets to go to an all-day field trip, so I’m taking that opportunity to get my bi-monthly shopping done.

Hovering Hubby decided to take this week off, so I’m going to be doing as many hit-and-runs on my computer and getting to as many blogs as I can – I should be able to find more time Thursday or Friday to lolly gag on the computer, since the Princess Nagger can thwart some of the hovering while she’s home…(evil grin!) At any rate, I wanted to participate in Anissa’s Recipe Swap since I enjoy it so much – I enjoy seeing what recipes everyone posts! 🙂

I made these for a dinner party once, served with a lemon wine sauce and fettuccine alfredo – they were a hit. I ran across a variation of the recipe to make them as an appetizer, or to take along for a picnic – I’ll be making them before our annual jaunt to Louisiana later this month, so we have something yummy and nutritious to eat while driving all those hours. Maybe they’ll neutralize some of the McD’s stops along the way… 😉

Chicken Pesto Spirals

6 servings

INGREDIENTS:

Pesto:

2 teaspoons	extra virgin olive oil
6	garlic cloves, crushed
1 1/2 cups	basil leaves
1 1/2 cups	chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons	grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons	fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 teaspoon	salt, divided
3/4 teaspoon	black pepper, divided

Chicken:

6	boneless, skinless chicken breasts
	Cooking spray

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375°.

To prepare pesto, combine oil and garlic in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at HIGH 40 seconds. Combine garlic mixture, 1 1/2 cups basil, parsley, cheese, chicken broth, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a food processor; process until finely chopped. (Or buy pre-made pesto, or buy the packets of pesto you can make by adding extra virgin olive oil…you know, if you want to save some time and energy).

To prepare chicken, place chicken breasts between double-thick plastic wrap and pound (gently) with a meat mallet until they’re about ¼ inch thick in a rectangular shape. You want to make sure the side that would normally have the skin is face down – and you’re pounding the already-rough-in-appearance bone side – you want the smooth side to stay smooth…they look more impressive when you’re serving them to guests…I’m just sayin’!

Spread pesto down the center of each breast, leaving a ¼-inch border. Fold the ends over first, then roll up jelly-roll fashion; secure with as many toothpicks as it takes to keep that sucker together. Sprinkle rolls lightly with salt and pepper, arrange them 1/2 inch apart, seam sides down, in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375° 30 minutes or until a thermometer registers 170°, turning rolls after 15 minutes. Cool and transfer to a serving container using a slotted spoon. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Remove toothpicks; cut each roll crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. If you’re going to take them along on a picnic or road trip or to watch a little league game, slice them just before you put them into a plastic container in your cooler.

Pictured with the chicken spirals is a yummy Melon Salad – I figured I’d go ahead and post that recipe, too, since I know there will be requests for it. 😉

Spicy-Sweet Melon Salad

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup	sugar
1/2 cup	water
1/2 small	jalapeño pepper, thinly sliced
2 cups	cubed honeydew melon
2 cups	cubed peeled cantaloupe

DIRECTIONS:

Combine sugar and water in a small saucepan; bring to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat; add pepper. Chill.

Combine sugar mixture, honeydew, and cantaloupe in a large bowl. Cover and refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. Serve with a slotted spoon. Simple!

I highly recommend you let it refrigerate overnight – the longer it chills, the more the flavors meld together nicely and you get a nice spice. What I usually do, though, is after I add the pepper to the sauce, I’ll let it cool down a bit, tasting every so often for just a hint of the pepper spice, then I’ll remove the peppers, divide the sauce in half, then re-add the peppers to only one half of the sauce. I divide the cantaloupe and melon in half, then mix the pepper-sauce with one half, the the non-pepper (but with some flavor) sauce to the other half and store them in the fridge overnight in separate containers. That way the salad with the peppers still mixed in makes it hot and spicy just the way hubby prefers, while the other half has the flavor but not the heat, like the Princess Nagger and I prefer. 🙂