Ready to Slooooooow Down

Yikes Bikes!
Ever been to Ukiah, CA? It's a gorgeous town filled with lovely people, and I just filmed my last job with a company that I have been a part of for three years...I started here as an intern in college. And Tuesday is my last day. It's weird, but I'm moving on to a new opportunity, a time to embrace growth and a new challenge.

It has been a whirlwind of a week, and before I start my new gig, I'm looking forward to just a few days off. I've already got a full menu planned to make up for my lack of cooking the past few weeks, and a calendar filled with extra group fitness classes to sub. A time to relax, do what I want to do, and refresh before tackling a new position head on.  I need a few days to slow down before I speed things right back up. Go! Go! Go!

Before I left town, I made a DELICIOUS recipe I found in Bon Appetit over a year ago. These chicken skewers with tarragon-pistachio pesto tasted absolutely fresh with the grilled veggies. A great dish for summertime grilling, but I made them on the stove just fine. 

You'll need some bamboo skewers (metal skewers will also do)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon
• 2 tablespoons unsalted natural pistachios
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 medium garlic clove, peeled
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 16 1-inch pieces red onion (1/3 inch thick)
• 16 1-inch squares red bell pepper
• 8 lemon slices, halved
• 1 pound chicken tenders (about 8 large)
•  

**You can also use dried tarragon, works the same if you can't find fresh. I swear I bought pistachios at the grocery store, but I couldn't find them for the life of me. I substituted the pistachios with pine nuts, and the pesto was delish! 

Preparation

• Puree first 5 ingredients in processor. Add 1/4 cup olive oil and blend until slightly coarse paste forms. Mix in 2 tablespoons water. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer 3 tablespoons pesto to small bowl (for brushing chicken and vegetables); reserve remaining pesto.
  
• Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Brush grill with oil. Thread 1 onion piece, 1 bell pepper square, 1 lemon slice half, 1 chicken tender (lengthwise), then 1 onion piece, 1 bell pepper square, and 1 lemon slice half alternately on each of 8 skewers. Brush vegetables and chicken on skewers with olive oil, then with 3 tablespoons pesto from small bowl. Sprinkle skewers with salt and pepper. 
  
  Grill until chicken is cooked through and vegetables are slightly softened, 6 to 8 minutes per side. Serve with reserved pesto.
  
  
  

   Look at the pretty colors!
  
  
  I would recommend that you cut the chicken into as equal sizes as possible so that they cook easily. Also, if you're cooking these in a grill pan over the stove like I did, make sure you use a pan large enough to fit the skewers so that all meat and veggies lay evenly on the pan. These took forever to cook because I didn't really take these two things into account. I grilled them for a LONG time (at least 15 minutes each side) and the chicken still wasn't cooked through, so I popped them in the oven to finish off. But if you cut the chicken to equal sizes and use a large enough cooking surface, you shouldn't have this problem.

  • Nutritional Information

    One serving contains:
    Calories (kcal) 432.7
    %Calories From Fat 62.4
    Fat (g) 30.0
    Saturated Fat (g) 5.4
    Cholesterol (mg) 46.5
    Carbohydrates (g) 23.1
    Dietary Fiber (g) 2.8
    Total Sugars (g) 2.4
    Net Carbs (g) 20.3
    Protein (g) 18.1
    Sodium (mg) 518.7