Balsamic BBQ Chicken

As I was driving home today I was going through my cupboards in my head, trying to figuring out what I could make for dinner with out going to the grocery store. I decided on barbecue chicken. My basic barbecue chicken consists of broiling chicken and basting it with Sweet Baby Ray's Honey Barbecue sauce. Now don't get me wrong, it's a tasty chicken, but it tastes very average. So I decided to make my own barbecue sauce tonight. Not having a recipe in my collection, I headed over to Food Network and and searched out barbecue chicken. I happened upon a recipe from Giada De Laurentiis that she made on her Every Day Italian show. It had a different twist on the sauce, and the ingredients were everything I already had in my cupboard. (Which is a huge bonus for me!) The sauce was delicious! It is not your average barbecue sauce. You can most definitely taste the balsamic vinegar and that makes the sauce kind of tangy. Brian really liked it, said it was different than regular barbecue sauce, with a taste he didn't expect. I might like the sauce to be a bit sweeter next time, but overall, an excellent sauce. I followed the cooking instructions as written, and the sauce reduced down, but it definitely wasn't as thick as a store bought sauce.

I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts and grilled them on my Cuisinart Griddler. (That's been getting a lot of use lately) The recipe also says you can bake the chicken, use any part of the bird you'd like, or suggests also using on steak, which I'd love to try. I kept basting the chicken as it was grilling, but I think it could be great to marinate the chicken in the sauce for a bit first. I had plenty of sauce to baste and use some as a side sauce for serving. I'm a huge fan of extra sauce. I served the chicken up with some baked seasoned potato slices. This is quick, easy, and another great way to spice up that average barbecue chicken.

Balsamic BBQ Chicken Recipe

Mozzarella and Tomato Grilled Cheese

There are few things better than a grilled cheese sandwich on a cold, rainy day. I while ago I caught and episode of Tyler's Ultimate on Food Network. I don't usually watch him, but he was making the perfect meal for a rainy day. He made these delicious looking mozzarella grilled cheese with tomato and pesto. I had to try them.

I had never made my own pesto before, but his looked easy and very doable. I toasted the pine nuts in a pan on the stove. I actually forgot about them and they burned. Once you can smell them I'd say you've toasted them too long. I made the pesto in a mini attachment to my immersion blender, before I got my food processor. It worked fine because you're not making very much. I found some great sourdough bread at Trader Joe's, and good substantial bread will do. And then I assembled them up and grilled them on my Cuisinart Griddler, such a great little appliance. I paired the sandwiches up with some broiled vegetables, obviously soup would be a good choice too. Quick, easy, and a great twist on the classic grilled cheese.




Mozzarella and Tomato Grilled Cheese Recipe

Since making this recipe we've expanded out grilled cheese/panini making to include all sorts of meats, different cheeses, grilled onions, sundried tomatoes. The list goes on. If you think it's going to be good, it probably will be. And if you don't like straight pesto, we've been making a pesto mayo with about two parts pesto and one part mayo. Let the creative panini juices flow.