Grilled Chicken, Bacon and Pepper Jack cheese (grilled) sandwich w/Mayonnaise Pesto

Last week on Food Buzz "Cookin' Canuck" had this great panini recipe she had posted.  It was Grilled Chicken, Bacon & Smoked Gouda Panini with Pesto Mayonaise.  Her sandwich looked so good I decided to see if I could do her recipe justice.

I don't have a panini press, I'm not a huge fan of Gouda cheese, so I made some simple changes.

The kids aren't a fan of hot/spicy so I decided to use American cheese on their half of the sammy and Pepper Jack cheese on my side!!


If you're looking for something new or a change in your dinner plans, give this a try.  It was so easy to make.  I had most of the ingredients on hand.  And the kids had fun with it.  What more can you ask for!!

Here's what you need:

Ciabatta bread (cut in half length wise)
4 grilled chicken breasts (marinated with fat free Italian dressing - garlic salt and pepper) - cook on the grill until done!
1pkg maple bacon (gave it a wonderful sweet flavor to balance out the spicy cheese)
sliced cheese -  I used American cheese and Pepper Jack cheese
2/3 cup lite Miracle Whip
2 tbs pesto (I used a jar from the store - didn't make my own this time)
1 medium onion sliced
romaine lettuce for topping on the sammy



What to do:
I marinated the chicken breasts and seasoned.  Cooked on the grill for about 20 minutes - until cooked through.
While the chicken was cooking on the grill I cooked the bacon until nice and crispy.

In a bowl combine and mix the Miracle Whip and Pesto together.  Spread over ciabatta bread that has been cut (I used the spread on both the top and bottom of the bread)
 After the chicken has been cooked and cooled for about 5 minutes, slice it thinly.  Put your cheese, onion and bacon on bread and layer with the chicken.  (I added more cheese to the top!!).

Put the top of the bread together and push together so the sammy doesn't fall apart when you pick it up.
Put it on the grill just until the cheese is melted and the bread is nice and toasted (watch this closely so the bread doesn't burn).

This was the messiest, sloppiest, tastiest sammy I've had in a long time.  I can't say that I've ever really put a sandwich on the grill, but I'm glad I tried it with this one!


Have a great week!  Enjoy your cooking! Oh and here's the link to Cookin' Canuck's original posting. http://cookincanuck.blogspot.com/2010/04/grilled-chicken-bacon-smoked-gouda.html

Two Girls Cooking...
Patricia