Pesto & Tomato Chicken - Yummy!

 

 

Another great recipe find on Pinterest! Seriously, if you aren’t pinning, you should be! This was just a regular pesto chicken recipe, but I made a few changes and kicked it up a notched! Someone needs to tell my husband how lucky he is to have me. I mean, I really try to tell him a lot, but he might forget. I’m practically an executive chef! He’s so lucky I’m enjoying trying out all of these different recipes. He really does win with this new hobby. I think he likes the benefits of my cooking more than my shopping.

 

Okay, let’s get down to the recipe. BTW, I think this was originally a South Beach recipe so it’s not only delicious, it’s low carb too!

 

Here are your ingredients:

 

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or buy with bone in and debone yourself – I did)
salt and pepper for seasoning chicken
1/2 cup basil pesto

1/2 cup grated low-fat mozzarella cheese

2 tomatoes thinly sliced

Italian seasoning

 

 

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375F.  I started with bone in chicken breasts and deboned and removed the skin. Don’t forget to save the skin and bone for making homemade chicken stock later! We’ll talk about that another day. I  cut each chicken breast lengthwise into 2 or 3 pieces. This allows the juices to really get into the chicken better. Trust me, you want that to happen!

Spray a 9" x 12"  (or something similar) baking dish with non-stick spray, then spread 1/4 cup basil pesto over the bottom of the dish. Lay chicken strips over the pesto, salt and pepper chicken to taste, then spread 1/4 cup more basil pesto over the chicken. I was lucky enough to find some homemade pesto in the freezer that a friend made me a couple of years ago. Score! Thanks Julie! That’s why the bottom layer looks darker in the photos. I used a store bought jar for the rest.

 

Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake the chicken for 25-30 minutes.

 

Next, remove the foil and place the tomato slices on top of the chicken pieces, sprinkle the tops with Italian seasoning (to taste) and top with 1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese. Feel free to add more cheese if you like. Put dish back into the oven without foil and cook 10–15  minutes more, until cheese is melted and beautifully brown!

 

 

Serve hot and savor every bite! There will be some awesome flavorful juices in the bottom of the dish, so you may want to serve with rice, couscous, or quinoa to soak up the juice. I served with black rice and scooped some of the juicy goodness on the rice. Are you familiar with black rice (forbidden rice)? My friend, Dr. Oz, told me how important it was so I ordered some right away! It really is good too.

 

 

If you make this recipe, don’t forget to come back and tell me how you liked it.

 

Enjoy!