Catching Up: Pesto Chicken, Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies...

Wow!  It has been a busy past 6 days.  As usual work is nutty, and with MKG out of town over the weekend I didn't have much time to spare.  S and I had an awesome time together at the Plaza Art Fair, OP Fall Fest, and we even got our first pair of shoes!  These cuties:

I even got to sneak out to a cocktail party and see The Help, which I had been wanting to see for awhile!  I loved the book, and the movie was really great too.  All in all, a busy and fun fall weekend.  S got to wear lots of new outfits too!

I can barely think past to last week at this point but I did have a few minutes to whip up some Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies on Saturday- the texture was amazeballs.  I'm not sure if it is because I've been using my convection feature or what- but they were crunchy and had a good snap, not cakey or sconey like past cookie attempts have been.  Super simple recipe.

Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies, Grain-Free & Sugar-Free
2.5 cups almond flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon (I love cinn and choc together but this is optional)
1/2 cup oil (coconut, grapeseed, canola etc)
1/2 cup sweetener like Stevia in the Raw, I used a smidge less
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup choc chips.  I had a few bars of partly eaten choc chips laying around so I combined them all and cut them up.  Takes more time than opening a bag of choc chips but it allowed me to combine three different types of chocolate.  72% cocao- 85% cocao, and 90% cocao.  This created different layers of flavor that I really liked!

Combine flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon thoroughly.  In a separate bowl, combine vanilla, sweetener, and oil.  At this point I added a few tablespoons of nut milk because I had a feeling the mixture would be too dry.  Probably 3 tablespoons or so.  This depends on what sweetener you are using, so you'll have to experiment with the amount of liquid.  The batter should end up being wet enough that you can form it into little 1 inch balls.  If it's too crumbly, you may want more liquid.  Add dry to wet and mix, then adding in chocolate chips.  This would also be a great time to add in 1/2 cup of walnuts, dried cherries, etc.  Place balls of dough on parchment lined cookie sheet.  I got 20 cookies total.  Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown on top.  I used my convection oven and was very happy with the texture.

Yesterday- after the cukoo weekend, we all decided to stay in for dinner.  And I was itching to make some pesto after this latest purchase:

Yay!  I don't know why I waited until now to buy basil.  It's my favorite herb and I never have any of it on hand.  Next I need to get some rosemary.  Anyways- I never measure out pesto- I eyeball it and add more ingredients as I go along, tasting as I "pulse."  We had a simple dinner of pesto chicken breast and spinach salad.  Suuuuuuuuuuper easy.

Walnut Pesto Chicken Breast
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
      Marinade:  (2 hrs in the fridge'll do it!)
      1 lemon
      1/4 cup red wine vinegar
      2 tsp salt
      1 tbsp Meyer Lemon Olive Oil (or reg EVOO)
Pesto:
1 cup basil
1/3 cup walnuts
2 tbsp EVOO
1 tsp minced garlic
2 tbsp grated parmesan
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

Pulse pesto ingredients in cuisi until a thick paste forms, you may need to scrape the sides down once or twice.  If you want this to be more saucy, add more oil as you pulse the mixture until you reach the right consistency.  You'll need to add more salt most likely.  I wanted mine to be more spread-like than saucy.  Remove marinated chicken and place in baking dish, pour remaining marinade over chicken.  Spread pesto over chicken and bake at 415 for about 45 minutes or until cooked through and juices are clear.  Let sit for 5 min before eating!

I'm so glad MKG is home and we can all have a great Rosh Hashanah together this Wednesday night.  Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year and typically you welcome it with apples and honey- so I'll need to come up with a special apple dish that is GFG appropriate!  Stay tuned!  XoXoGFG