A week is a long time to be stuck in a hotel with little ones, but we learned a trick a long time ago that makes our stay much easier and that is, if you’re in a hotel for any longer than a day or two pack the toaster oven. Having home-cooked meals while staying in a hotel is priceless. There’s nothing worse than eating out for multiple meals a day, especially with children! In June during our house hunting trip we piled into a hotel for 6 days then all last week we were in hotels waiting to move into our new house. The toaster oven was the first thing I packed and as always, we were thankful to have fresh, hot meals in our hotel room and not have to drag tired, grumpy children to a restaurant.
Mind you to make this work, you need to squeeze in a couple grocery runs {or prepare meals ahead and bring them along for the trip} and have a quality toaster oven and not one that takes 3 hours to cook a casserole. Black & Decker released a new, affordable option – the Convection Countertop Oven. It’s a large capacity oven that’s roomy enough to {properly} cook a 9″ pizza, or a casserole or even a pan of brownies. The convection feature means food is cooked or baked not only quicker but evenly as well! There are bake, broil, toast and keep warm functions and it goes all the way up to 450 degrees.
To test out the new oven Black & Decker selected 20 Canadian bloggers {including me!} to compete in an Ultimate Sandwich Recipe contest! My ultimate sandwich entry: my Chicken Pesto Baguette. My inspiration? To convince my husband that an amazing sandwich doesn’t have to include bacon. I also wanted to include vegetables that are flavorful and that I knew the kids {and husband} would eat so I went with zucchini and red onion.
Ingredients: {choose organic wherever possible!}
– one baguette {organic, hearty, grainy, seedy varieties are yummiest- ACE Bakery’s Artisan Bread has a delicious organic selection that’s available at Superstore}.
– 1.5 cups of basil pesto {you can get fancy and make your own or buy a jar of it. Look for it in the pasta aisle}
– 1 tbsp minced garlic
– 2 chicken breasts {sliced into bite size pieces}
– 1 zucchini sliced lengthwise
– 1/2 red onion sliced
– 1/2 cup feta
– 4 tbsp olive oil {reserve 2 tbsp for sauteing chicken}
– 1/4 tsp salt
– 1/4 tsp pepper
What you do:
Turn on your toaster oven broiler.
Mix together the basil pesto, garlic, 2tbsp olive oil, salt & pepper.
Slice zucchini and red onion then arrange in a single layer on toaster oven bake pan.
Brush with 2tbsp of pesto mix and broil for 5 minutes.
Remove, flip vegetables, brush other side with another 2tbsp of pesto mix and broil for another 5 minutes {or until they’re as soft or crisp as you’d like}
While vegetables are broiling, slice chicken breast into bite sized pieces then saute in 2tbsp olive oil in a pan on the stove.
While chicken is sauteing slice baguette in half {so it will fit in the toaster oven}, then slice halves lengthwise.
Spread the rest of your pesto mix on baguette and crumble feta on top {I was making this one for my husband, if it was for myself I’d add even more feta!!}
Remove vegetables from toaster oven, slide in baguette halves and broil for 2 minutes to crisp up the edges and warm up the baguette.
Remove from toaster oven, pile on the chicken and vegetables then slap ‘em together.
It’s fresh, filling, super flavorful, and the vegetarian version {without chicken} still tastes awesome. Enjoy!
P.S.
This makes for one huge sandwich. Cut into thirds is ideal.
P.P.S.
A photo outtake for your viewing pleasure:
One pot holder stuck to the bottom of the baking pan which spent approximately 12 minutes in the toaster oven. Surprisingly no fire! Woot! How did I not notice this until after I was done?!
I created this post as part of the Black & Decker Ultimate Sandwich contest as part of a Mom Central Canada program. I received a toaster and gift card to cover the costs of my sandwich creation. The opinions on this blog are my own.
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