Make it- One-pot pesto chicken shines at Mother’s Day dinner
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Good morning! How was everyone’s weekend? Mine was filled with yummy food and family get togethers- can it get any better than that?
I don’t want to toot our own horns, but (TOOT! TOOT!) the Mister and I did a pretty fantastic job yesterday making dinner for my parents, brother and grandparents! It was our first attempt at a large dinner and we didn’t have any major episodes! — Well I did drop a jar of jelly on the floor, which proceeded to project shards of glass everywhere (as well as jelly), but we’re just going to pretend that didn’t happen 
— I told you I was a klutz…
On the menu:
Pesto Chicken
Roasted asparagus and tomatoes
Couscous
Mixed greens and veggie salad
Fruit salad
Fresh baked bread with olive oil for dipping
Angel food cake with fresh strawberries, vanilla ice cream, strawberry sherbet and whipped cream
While everything was incredibly delicious (and I’m not just saying that!), the most notable dish was the pesto chicken. One of the main reasons this was so impressive (and don’t tell my mom), is that it was SO EASY! Seriously, this dish takes about 10 minutes of prep time and the oven does the rest of the work.
I used this recipe, from Prevention Magazine. I could have whipped up my own pesto sauce, but I really wanted to limit time in the kitchen so we could spend time with my mom on her special day.
I actually omitted the potatoes. Instead, I roasted asparagus separately (if I had roasted it in the same dish, it would have gotten too soggy, due to the cook time) and plated it with the roasted tomatoes from the chicken dish.
For the asparagus, I combined the juice of half a lemon with a tablespoon of olive oil and spread on top of an entire bunch of asparagus that I had laid out on a cookie sheet. I seasoned with salt and pepper and put into the oven when there were 12 minutes of cook-time remaining on the chicken. Then, I cut the asparagus in half and tossed with the oven roasted tomatoes.
Pesto Chicken
Roasted Veggies
The chicken was so juicy and flavorful — seriously, this is one of the best chicken dishes I’ve ever had — you’ve GOT to make it. I bought my chicken and pesto at Whole Foods, so I’m sure that also helped in the flavor dept
We cheated a bit used our time wisely and relied on this for the couscous.
Of course we had to have a HUGE salad!
Salad
In the salad:
mixed greens
walnuts
tomatoes
red pepper
cucumber
feta cheese
croutons
We wanted a ‘no-fuss-no-muss’ dessert and picked up an angel food cake. We sliced up strawberries and served them on the side with sherbet, ice cream and whipped cream. Perfect way to end the meal!
Dessert
Close up on my dessert
My grandpa (you remember him from Easter, right?) also brought a delicious Nut Torte cake that I had to have a piece of!
Grandpa's cake
Cake close-up
(I think) everyone really enjoyed out dinner and it was really great to be able to show off let everyone sit back and enjoy a home-cooked meal.
The dinner table
The spread
Have you/do you make dinner for your family? What is your signature dish?
Lovely!!
Can I just tell you, I’m so excited for this weekend/!??!?!
i’m sure it tasted just as good as it looks.
This looks like it was such a lovely dinner
And that cake looked so amazing! I don’t think I have a signature dish yet…soon I’m sure 
Your spread looks amazing!! Good job! I am not a huge fan of pesto, but I think I’ll have to try that chicken dish!
That looks like quite the spread! How nice!!
Your spread looks fantastic! My signature dish would have to pork chops – which I can make 100 different ways!
Toot away because that looks fantastic!! My signature dish is tiramisu!
My signature dish is tofu
What a great dinner! My signature dish is fettucini alfredo!
Everything looks just amazing! I’ll have to try the chicken dish!
My signature dish is salmon in lemon dill sauce.
man i love pesto. that chicken looks great!
Everything looks good….the cake looks divine!!! I love Angel food!
YUM strawberry shortcake! i want to go make that now!
I always try and make something different for my family and they loveto be surprised. I always make at least two different salads and the dessert and often the side and main dish (hehe almosteverything). The more creative and new it is, the better!
-http://thestudiouscook.wordpress.com
I love the dessert set-up–tasty but figure friendly
I don’t have a signature dish yet, but your pesto dish looks awesome.
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