I finally got a Panini press not a contraption but a real Lodge cast iron Panini press I am so excited it was one of  my souvenirs from vacation so I told my husband we have to have Panini’s tonight!  Yes we just got back from a mini vacation this afternoon.  We did not go far just a couple of hours down the coast but it was really relaxing.

If you didn’t know it cooking with cast iron is good for you!  First of all cast iron is very durable you needn’t fuss with it too much and you can actually cook with less oil overall because the pan is already seasoned.  Cast iron is chemical free so you don’t need to worry about health issues with aluminum or the non stick coatings.  Also cast iron fortifies your food with iron as well.  Just some cast iron tips for you to know!  We have been slowly adding more and more cast iron to our collection.  In my opinion cast iron cookware is a must have tool of the trade for your kitchen!

I hope all of you had a wonderful weekend and I am planning on enjoying my Spring Break….mostly cleaning and organizing, but a little gardening and fun built-in too!

I decided we should have chicken pesto Panini’s this isn’t real a recipe per say there are a ton of great blogs about Panini’s!  Here is the blog that inspired our dinner tonight!  GastroGirl – Chicken Pesto Panini

This is kinda’ how we made ours it was real simple just a few steps but  they have Panini recipes all over pinterest or you can make your own up which is often what I like to do!

• We oiled and heated up our cast iron skillet
• We then heated up our new Lodge Cast iron Panini press (we got this for $13 at the Lodge Outlet store)
• But here is how we made ours:We marinated 3 chicken breasts in italian dressing and grilled them
• We also sliced up some peppers and coated them with olive oil and grilled them too
• In the meantime I melted butter to brush on the bread
• I also chopped up some cherry tomatoes they were on sale
• I roasted some asparagus see my recipe below
• We bought a loaf of italian bread and sliced some nice thick slices
• By request we put mayo and pesto on each slice of the inside of the bread
• Once the chicken came off the grill we put a slice of provolone on each piece of chicken to melt it
• Then we placed the toppings on top
• We all got to decide our toppings on each of our Panini’s.  My husband had asparagus, peppers, tomatoes, pesto and mayo on his and my  son had peppers, tomatoes, pesto and mayo on his.  Now me I had everything but the mayonnaise and don’t get me wrong I love mayo but I felt like the pesto would be enough for flavor and for me it was.
• Lastly you place the press on top to smush the sandwich and to put the lovely grill lines on it!  I absolutely love the lines and I want the lines on both sides….to my husband this is not so important and he lets me know 😉

My husband the Viking in my life said the next time we may these we should add avocados and I think mushrooms would be good too!

We served these delicious Panini’s with roasted asparagus and tater tots….YUM!  Although I would have preferred to serve these with my own homemade sweet potato fries.  These were restaurant quality but better because we controlled the quality of the ingredients with one exception……I did not have any  more homemade pesto left this season this will only motivate me to make more next year.    This is the time of year that I start longing to make and put away food again for the future.  Have a great week everyone!

Fondly,

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