"Crocodile Chicken" (Toddler friendly Pesto Chicken)

On Friday's our Little Lady attends Daycare. Those that have read my previous posts will know that I am not overly impressed with the food that is offered at daycare and it certainly does not meet my standard of nutrition. So on Friday evenings I try and pack in as many nutrient dense ingredients into Lady Lalo's dinner, to make up for those that she may not have gotten during the day. 

On Friday evenings I am usually pushed for time, as I spend a little extra time in the office tidying up my work preparing for the week ahead. Therefore I get home fractionally later and have to get extra creative in the kitchen. 

Last night was one of those nights. I walked in the door and Lady Lalo was already asking for dinner. I gave her some Goji Berries to snack on whilst I started to Prep dinner. Still with no idea what I was going to make.

(When we cannot make it to the farmers markets on a weekend we get a big box of Organic Fruit and Vegetables delivered to our door. I try not to visit any large supermarket chains at all and always try to buy direct from local farmers. I try and use all of the fresh ingredients that I have left in the house each week. Of course, being the end of the week I start to get especially creative with my meals. I always tend to surprise myself with what I can create from the last of our fresh ingredients. Last nights dinner was no exception.)

I looked deep into my fridge for inspiration, when I saw that I had some Fresh Basil left over from my visit to my Nonno's herb garden earlier in the week I immediately thought of a lovely Chicken Pesto. Of course, I had to put an extra nutritious spin on it.. and it needed to be fun and creative for a toddler. When I served this to Lady Lalo the first thing she said was "Crocodile", so I think I met the brief with this one.

Ingredients:

3 x Freerange Chicken Breasts (cut in half to make 6 thin steaks)

1/2 cup Organic or Insecticide Free Almonds

2 tablespoons Sesame Seeds

2.5 cups Fresh Basil leaves

2 cups Baby Spinach

70 ml Fresh Lemon Juice

1/2 teaspoon Himalayan Salt (optional or season to taste)

70 ml Almond Oil (or good quality Olive Oil or Avocado Oil)

50 ml Boiling Water 

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees

2. Line a large baking tray with baking paper and lay chicken breasts on it

3. Add almonds and sesame seeds into a food processor and process until finely ground (depending on the strength of your food processor, this should only take 1-2 minutes)

4. add the rest of the ingredients into the food processor and process until smooth. 

5. Spoon a teaspoon of the pesto mixture onto each of your chicken breasts and smooth over the chicken with the back of a spoon (there should be plenty of pesto leftover to coat the other side of the chicken)

6. Bake for 15 mins on one side, flip the chicken breasts and cover with pesto again and bake for another 15-20 mins or until cooked through. 

I served this with Sautéed red cabbage, green beans and nitrate free bacon and a side of fresh salad (cucumber, tomatoes and capsicum). For hubby and I, I mixed all the ingredients together to make a big Chicken Pesto Salad. It was seriously divine, topped with a little more fresh pesto dressing. YUM!

I hope you and your babies enjoy my "Crocodile Chicken" Recipe, feel free to mix up the ingredients. Use Pine Nuts instead of Almonds, Kale or Broccoli instead of spinach etc, Serve over zucchini noodles (Zoodles) or mix the pesto through scrambled eggs and serve with bacon to make "Green Eggs & Ham". 

Make it your own and always use what is in season and what you have readily available at the time. 

Love & Gratitude. 

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