determination and.......Garden Pesto Chicken

So Sunday, I was preparing the recipe below and as I was cleaning up, I dropped a GINORMUS, freshly sharpened kitchen knife on my foot.  It looked like someone was stabbed to death on my kitchen floor.  I called 911 because there was so much blood and I was thinking I hit an artery.  I didn't.  It probably needs stitches but, since I just had a complete abdominal hysterectomy - I'm avoiding needles and hospitals like the plague.  The wonderful EMS people wrapped it up like this:

So when I woke up Monday it hurt, a little.  The hubs put steri-strips and a large bandage and I limped most of the day.  I had a workout scheduled with my trainer and all those dang voices in my head started "don't workout, it might  make your foot start bleeding, your sore from boot camp, take another day off.  I told the voices to basically, eff off, got my stuff on went - with kids in toe.

And I killed it.  1/2 hour on the elliptical then 1/2 hour working triceps and biceps then rolling out my muscles on legs and 100 stomach crunches.  I was sore and felt awesome when I was done.   To top it off, I did a Kris Freytag sexy abs workout for 39 minutes after dinner.

Never listen to those voices. Do the exact opposite of whatever they are saying.   I'm slowly learning not too!

After that workout, I came home and prepared dinner...a Garden Pesto Chicken and Ravioli (for the girls).

I have a pretty small, but plentiful herb and tomato garden.  I was craving pesto, but not all the calories that are tucked away in traditional pesto.  I used it as a marinade overnight for chicken breast.

flavor.flavor.flavor!

Garden Pesto

2 cups basil ( I used a variety of basils i.e. Italian basil, Thai basil, purple basis, bush basil)
bunch/handful of cilantro
bunch/handful of flat leaf parsley
couple of oregano leaves
couple of tarragon leaves
a few pinches of lemon thyme
a few pinches of spicy Mexican oregano (that is what we happen to have)
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper for taste
4 cloves of garlic or more depending on your preference
juice from 1 lemon
dash of Mrs. Dash lemon pepper

Wash herbs.  Put all ingredients into a food processor and puree until everything is saucy like this:

If I was serving this as a meal - I would just add hot pasta to it, add some grated cheese and serve.

I'm used this as a marinade for my chicken breast so I added in chicken, stirred it all together, covered it and put it in the fridge for 24 hours.

Preheat oven to 400.

In a baking pan, line it with a long enough piece of parchment paper to make a package.  Lay all the chicken in like this:

and wrap it up like this:

Cook for 25 minutes.

Discard any unused pesto - you cannot reuse this!!

I served this along with handmade spinach ravioli and it was AAAAAhhhhMMAAAAZZZzing!

This is what it looks like when it is all cooked. The girls couldn't get enough.

The marinade got into all the nooks and crannies!

Next time I make it I am going to prepare a great pasta salad with whole wheat pasta,  fresh mozzarella, fresh zucchini, white beans and sun dried tomatoes and bring it to the beach!  This beats a greasy burger and frozen french fries any day!!

Have a great Wednesday!

xo
Chris