Grilled Chicken and Pineapple Quesadillas

Steve and I have a huge thing for sweet and savory dishes and because of that, I always am intrigued by recipes which include fruit with your meat. The kids aren't always as intrigued by combining two opposite flavors---but with this recipe, it worked for them too!

If you have never grilled pineapple on the grill before, it is worth it to just do that. It is amazing! Just cut your fresh pineapple into chunks and put them on skewers and grill for a few minutes on each side. Yummo! But for these quesadillas, we went a step further and combined grilled chicken with our fave bbq sauce, monterey jack and sharp cheddar cheeses, and cilantro. The recipe calls for fresh jalapeno which we opted to do without for the kids' sake, but I think that would have added a nice bite to them. I think the key here for the overall flavor of the dish is the CILANTRO!!! Do not go without it! And I almost had to because of the way my cilantro is looking after my trip away...but, that's another story. I used whole wheat tortillas and everyone schnarfed them down in a matter of minutes.

Could it have been that it was 8:00 pm when we were all gathered to eat and they were starving?? Sure! But they still liked the quesadillas...

Grilled Chicken Sandwich with Apricot Sauce

Grilled or NOT grilled is really what this recipe turned out to be. I had big hopes of having the chicken grilled and ready to go by the time Steve got home from work last night. We really needed to eat early with all of the activities we had going on, so I wanted to be prepared. Don't get me wrong...I have used our grill before. But last night when I went out there, there were 2 propane tanks and a wrench and I got scared. So in I went and cooked our chicken breasts on the stove in some olive oil and butter.

Half of us loved the sandwiches and the other half did not. Steve and I were part of the loving half. Sometimes my littles do not get in to the special sauces that really "make" the recipe in our adult taste bud thinking. Such as the apricot sauce---oh wow!! I loved the simplicity and the variation of flavors by using different herbs. I definitely plan to use this sauce again for sandwiches. Maybe not on Kourtney and Landon's...

Grilled Chicken Sandwiches with Apricot Sauce are just a great summer sandwich. They turned out just fine with the stovetop cooking, but would have been even better grilled. I wish I had a panini grill for bread, but I don't. So I used those really thin whole grain sandwich thins, added red onion, sliced avocado (the sandwich screamed avocado to me), a handful of spinach, the chicken, and of course the yummy sauce. I think the sandwich packed a pretty great nutritional punch!

Panko and a Green Monster

Oh my goodness...summer is in full swing around here! The really scary thing is that this week is a slow week for us. No softball gam.es, bible school, and I'm not really even working besides being on call--and it still feels crazy.

My addiction of PW is still going strong and because it's not enough for me, I have added some other recipes I've been experimenting with...

ENTER: The Green Monster

What I love about these smoothies is the incredible nutrition you get. Although I have been dragging my feet to try them. Something about the almond milk was worrying me. But to my surprise my kiddos and I loved them!!! I have yet to try one out on Steve, but I know he'll like them too. An awesome breakfast and supplement to a meal, it gives you all the benefits of raw spinach, bananas, and fresh fruit--plus the protein and calcium of your mik of choice, and fiber from the flax seed. Yes, the Green Monster movement has hit our household and I am very excited.

Although the smoothie could easily be a meal for some, that would not fly at our house. PW had a yummy looking recipe for fried mozzarella sticks. How did she know that my kids could live off of those???

Very simple to prepare for frying, but the frying is kind of a trick. Some of them turned out really good, and others melted too quickly and spread out all over the pan. That was irritating. But they tasted good and it was fun to make them from scratch! I think I did not flash freeze them long enough and if I had, they wouldn't have melted so quickly. But we were hungry and I needed to get them done!!

The recipe uses Panko bread crumbs which worked great---added a bit of a crunch to them. Due to the significant egg wash dredging required, I did not personally try these. But the kids loved them. Fried cheese? I mean, really...how could you go wrong? Thank goodness for the Green Monster to even out the healthiness of this meal today...