I’m backkkkk! One semester of medical school down. 3 ½ to go. Today I’m bringing you a Whole 30 Pesto Chicken with Sun Dried Tomatoes.
My most loyal readers have asked me to share a little bit about medical school in my blog, so I promise that and I promise an explanation to this awesome recipe. First off, I love medical school. Every day, I know I chose the right path by going into medicine. But narrowing it down from there is where it gets harder. Yes I love nutrition, wellness, and cooking, but I’m very hesitant to make a whole career based on this. Sometimes that leads to burn out, and too much pressure. I am leaning more and more towards Dermatology and Dermatologic Surgery. After a 4 day preceptorship at Bopp Dermatology in New Orleans, I felt like I could really see myself in this field. The doctors are incredibly happy, spiritual, loving people, and their patients showed that they had immense trust in them. Their office is like a family, and their culture was inspiring. Each patient received the kindest care, and it really showed.
So back to the recipe. I finally had time to cook something delicious. And I refuse to give up my cooking this semester. I want to cook something for the blog once a month. I know I can sacrifice that from my studying! I will also be releasing a meal plan very soon, for those who need a schedule for cooking. It’s going to be a 6 day plan with less than 2 hours of cooking. This includes 3 meals a day. It has some repetition, but when you don’t have time to cook, you are okay with eating the same meal twice in a week!
Pesto Chicken with Sun Dried Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts fat trimmed off
- Pesto ingredients below
- ¼ cup sun dried tomatoes chopped
- 1 cup heirloom cherry tomatoes halved
- ½ bundle asparagus chopped in thirds
- Coconut or olive oil for searing
Pesto
- 2 cups fresh basil leaves
- 2 cloves fresh garlic
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup pine nuts
- ⅛-1/4 tsp salt
- ⅛ tsp pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F convection bake.
- Slice chicken breast in half, almost to the other edge, and open it up like a sandwich. Pound each breast with a meat mallet.
- Make the pesto by adding all ingredients for it into a food processor. Turn on for about 15 seconds at a time. Scraping down the sides with a spoon, if needed.
- Distribute half the pesto to each chicken breast. Spread the pesto, when chicken breast is opened up, and layer sun dried tomatoes on top. Close chicken breasts and use tooth picks to hold each closed.
- In a cast iron skillet, add coconut or olive oil and bring to medium-high heat. Once hot, sear the chicken on each side for a minute and a half.
- Add cherry tomatoes and asparagus to the skillet with the chicken. Place the skillet in the oven, and cook for 20 minutes. Turn skillet to low broil and broil for 3 minutes. Serve hot.
Notes
This meal is Whole 30 approved. If you are not doing a whole 30 and you want to add cheese, add sliced parmesan or mozzarella before the last 3 minutes of broiling.
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