Christmas shopping should be an olympic sport.
Really. You must prepare in the following ways:
- Condition – I spend all year training 😉
- Psychological – I stockpiled all my patience that day
- Endurance – I’d already been to kickboxing (though I decided to leave the gloves in the car)
I walked into the mall on a mission. I left victorious. Sorry mom – not revealing any secrets!
What I can share is the stuff I bought myself. Anthropologie was having a sale… I couldn’t help it!
A duvet cover for just $50 (it was $228!)
A bowl for $1 (was $6)
Bad-ass necklace (not on sale... but did I mention it's bad ass?!)
Guilt of self-shopping must have taken over because I have already wrapped the presents. This is usually a Christmas Eve activity, as I hate wrapping and procrastinate.
That's a wrap
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The next party-food chapter is: A Tale of Two Pestos
One bit different, one more traditional. A little country and a little rock and roll , if you will.
The second meat dish I served was a chicken pinwheel. One filled with green pesto and one filled with red. Festive, right?
I never cook meat at home. Truth be told, it grosses me out to touching it. So you can imagine the sight of me trimming and tenderizing $50 worth of raw chicken was comical. I had chicken spread out on every available surface (on paper, of course).
Needless to say, I sanitized every inch of my kitchen after this.
After pounding them all, I spread each breast with one of the pestos and shredded mozzarella.
You’ve actually seen the green pesto before – it’s this Basil-Walnut Pesto I posted about last week.
Sneaky me made these in advance and then froze them. Pesto is convenient like that – you can put it in a container and freeze it forever. It’s a great way to use up excess herbs.
Tip: If you freeze it in ice cube trays, you’ll have individual servings you can easily pop out and heat. If you freeze it in a baggie, you can thaw a batch quickly by placing the bag in hot water.
The red pesto was my favorite with the chicken. It’s base is sun-dried tomatoes, resulting in a stronger flavor that I loved in the two-bite sized pinwheels.
It was also a thicker pesto, which I love. This is one you can make a spread on a sandwich like hummus. The sun-dried tang with the nuttiness of the parm and walnuts, combined with the richness from the balsamic was a great blend. Don’t be shy with that balsamic if you’re using the good stuff!
Now that I think of it, this would be amazing blended into hummus!
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Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto
- 2 cups chopped sun-dried tomatoes (I used dried, soaked in warm water for 20 minutes. Be sure to reserve the “flavored” post-soak water)
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1 T lemon juice
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/4 C yellow onion
- 1/4 C grated parmesan
- 1/4 C walnuts, toasted
- 1 T Balsamic vinegar
- 1/2 C fresh basil leaves, packed
- 1/2 C olive oil
- S+P, to taste
Combine all the ingredients except the olive oil in a food processor begin to blend adding oil slowly. Stop to scrape down the sides as needed. Consistency will be paste-like (you may need to add water or more olive oil).
Store refrigerated for up to one week or much longer in the freezer.
Makes ~2 cups.
Pesto Pinwheels
Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.
Pound out chicken breasts until about 1/2 in thick. Spread pesto evenly over one side of breast. Sprinkle with shredded mozzarella cheese.
Roll into logs and wrap tightly in aluminum foil. Place on a baking sheet and cook for 25-30 mins.
Allow to cool a bit before unwrapping. Remove foil and slice into rounds to make pinwheels (don’t worry – the foil wrap will have caused them keep their shape).
Sprinkle with salt and pepper and enjoy!
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It’s hard to believe Christmas is this weekend… tomorrow look forward to the best cookies of the season (as if we all need more cookies).
Are you done with your holiday shopping?
Is anyone else craving matzoh ball soup?! Happy Hanukkah!
I *think* I’m done holiday shopping but I need to return something from black Friday before the 25th (ugh). I’m hoping to avoid the craziness by going straight from work.
This pesto sounds incredible. I always dread the thought of cleaning my food processor so I try to make pesto in my Magic Bullet and inevitably it doesn’t puree all the way.
Yeah, I love my Bullet but for really pureeing something I have to use the processor.
love the idea of sundried tomato pesto! and that necklace is totally badass
I am done spending money this month. Haha 😉
I can cut up meat, but I get really grossed out when it’s a lot of meat at once. I don’t know why, but I guess I just get overwhelmed with ickies.
I didn’t know chicken would hold its shape like that. Very cool!
I went to the mall yesterday and was very scared. Too crowded!!
I love Matzoh ball soup. I think I’ll make some today. I secretly really like the kind that comes from a box.
Wow, you really scored at Anthro. I am completely done with Christmas shopping, the earliest I’ve ever finished, and everything is wrapped. I love wrapping though.
Crap, that was me. I forgot to fill out all my info. 😛
Another dangerously sounding edible delight those chicken pinwheel are.
These chicken pinwheels make fabulously festive appetizers!
I love that duvet cover! What a deal! I get very excited when I find amazing bargans!! I love the idea of the red and green pesto and while I’ve made both of them in the past, I didn’t think of them during the holidays – fabulous tip!!
Thank you! Anthro is SO expensve, but they do have some killer sales.
You know the key to my heart with that sun dried tomato pesto! Yum!! And awesome steals at Anthro! You’re making me want to go to the mall… I’ve somehow avoided it entirely this season!
I am finally done with my Christmas shopping, but still have plenty of Christmas wrapping to go!
I love the duvet cover you got – what a steal!
I too hate wrapping gifts. And I suck ass at it. 🙂
Ditto. I don’t have the patience for it!
I’m glad you kicked some shopping booty. I suck at shopping. NO patience apparently….so I stick to on-line shopping. Oh, and I happen to live in the mountains away from everything. 🙂
The pesto pinwheels look awesome. Just the thing to refuel after a day of spending $!
This time of year I always WISH I lived in the mountains!
Here’s what I think. I think you should come to my place, wrap my presents (I am THE MOST AWFUL at wrapping), give me your Anthropologie goodies because we don’t have it here, eat peanut butter fudge with me, and then depart feeling happy about how generous and Santa-like you’ve been to me 😉
That sounds like a wonderful idea! 🙂
I still have a few presents to buy…have to get on that tomorrow!
And I LOVE pesto – especially basil walnut. Pesto pasta or pizza is my favorite 🙂
Pesto on pizza is the best! I used to get the pesto pizza at Mellow Mushroom with tomatoes and spinach.
I have a few last minute gifts to get today, but I am ready for the crowds…it is a bit like going to war (and I think the kickboxing gloves would have been completely appropriate).
I would have fought you for that awesome duvet…well done girl!
I love pretty much any take on pesto, so this would be right up my alley. What a lovely spread of appetizers!
Olala! Look at that pretty chicken! Looks great my dear!! What a great dinner this would be!
I have a chocolate duvet cover too! (My accent colors are oranges, reds, and yellows). Ok… enough girlie decorating talk. Love the pestos! On my list for the week is a roasted carrot pesto in endive. What do you think? Do you think I can pull off a carrot pesto?????
Ummm… in short, I think that is BRILLIANT! What spices are you going to add? I bet a curry or garam masala would be amazing. Can’t wait to hear about it!
yum! that is a combination of all i love – pesto and chicken! perfect recipe for when it’s my turn to make dinner next 🙂
Thank you! Do let me know if you try it and what you think.