Chicken Salad Panini's... a partial disaster

I ended up making chicken salad panini's today. I was really wanting to make lemon lime chicken but didn't realize the recipe called for the chicken breasts to marinate for 12 hours in the fridge prior to making them... oops!!! I guess I should have paid attention a little better.

The paninis turned out pretty good except for the fact that I burnt the chicken. I have a really hard time determining when the chicken is cooked all the way. I'm so paranoid that I'm not going to cook it well enough and then everyone will get salmonella and die... yes, I'm one of those people. I even bleach down every speck of countertop, the kitchen sink, the faucet, and the cupboard under the sink where the garbage is just so I know everything is clean and salmonella free. Call me OCD or whatever, I'm just playing it safe.

So anyway, another new recipe that would have turned out great if I hadn't burnt the chicken. This dressing is wonderful and this is definitely a recipe that I'll make again and hopefully do it better the next time around.

So for those of you who can actually grill some chicken and actually have it turn out well, here's a great chicken salad panini recipe that serves 2 people.

Ingredients
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 1/2 teaspoons honey
3/4 teaspoon snipped fresh dill
3/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Dash salt
Dash pepper
1 cup cubed cooked chicken breast
3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup chopped, peeled apple
1/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted
6 slices white bread
4 teaspoons butter, softened
Directions
In a small bowl, combine the first six ingredients. In another bowl, combine the chicken, cheese, apple and pecans; add dressing and toss to coat.
Spread half of the chicken salad on two slices of bread. Top each with another slice of bread, remaining chicken salad and remaining bread. Spread butter on both sides of sandwiches. Cook on a panini maker or indoor grill until bread is toasted and cheese is melted.




I also made these really good brownie cookie things but it all came from a box so I didn't feel like it was really blog worthy.

Maybe one of these days I will actually write about something exciting going on in my life other than food. I'm really enjoying cooking and learning my way around the kitchen. I really want to start making homemade bread and everything. Although Mike will tell you that sometimes I get stressed out and beg for him to come help me, I absolutely love cooking!

Well, time for me to plug in a movie and snuggle up with my handsome and fall asleep with this full and satisfied belly!