Girls Weekend in Chicago: Recipe for Fun!

This is a break from regularly scheduled programming to bring you a post about girls weekend! Last weekend I spent 4 days in Chicago with three of my favorite girls: Mom, Aunt Rita, and Madison.

We picked the girls up at Midway Thursday morning and headed into downtown. We stayed at the Conrad Hilton (very nice).

Our first adventure was the Wendella Architecture Tour which was very fun and informative. Perfect sunny day activity. Actually our first stop was Bandera for some lunch on Michigan Ave, then the boat tour.

Naturally we did plenty of shopping!

On Friday we spent the day in Lincoln Park and did more shopping and a lot of walking! We had brunch at Nookies (highly recommend, all fresh and delicious) and then shopped on Armitage, and then walked all the way to the zoo and saw some of these guys:

For dinner we went to Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinders, so very good. It is located across the street from the location of the St. Valentines Day Massacre.

On Saturday we went up to Nick and Nicole's new home in Buena Park and then had lunch with them in their neighborhood. Afterwards we came back and assaulted Water Tower Place. Success! Back to school clothes, a homecoming dress, and some jeans.

We began most mornings with girl talk in our room over coffee and muffins, we rounded most nights out with girl talk over dinner and dessert. There is something therapeutic about spending time with dear friends. I had a great time, thanks for making the trip girls!

Cream Cheese & Pesto Stuffed Chicken Breast

This is a recipe I heard about from a friend at work. She tried it a few weeks ago and said it was definitely worth a try. It comes from eatingwell.com so I have the nutrition facts below. I made a modification which is instead of using the egg white, I made buttermilk (milk and lemon juice). Here is what you need:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, (1-1 1/4 pounds total)
• 1 egg white
• 1/2 cup plain dry breadcrumbs
• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

Cream Cheese-Pesto Filling:

• 2 tablespoons reduced-fat cream cheese, (Neufchatel)
• 1 tablespoon basil pesto, (store-bought or homemade)

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Coat a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.
2. Combine cream cheese, pesto and pepper in a small bowl with a fork.
3. Cut a horizontal slit along the thin, long edge of a chicken breast half, nearly through to the opposite side. Open up each breast and place one-fourth of the filling in the center. Close the breast over the filling, pressing the edges firmly together to seal. Repeat with the remaining chicken breasts and filling.
4. Lightly beat egg white with a fork in a medium bowl. Place breadcrumbs in a shallow glass dish. Hold each chicken breast half together and dip in the egg white, then dredge in the breadcrumbs. (Discard leftovers.)
5. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken breasts; cook until browned on one side, about 2 minutes. Place the chicken, browned-side up, on the prepared baking sheet. Bake until the chicken is no longer pink in the center or until an instant-read thermometer registers 170°F, about 20 minutes.

 

Nutrition
233 calories; 9 g fat ( 4 g sat , 3 g mono ); 81 mg cholesterol; 7 g carbohydrates; 33 g protein; 1 g fiber; 379 mg sodium; 351 mg potassium.

I served this with pasta with a little pesto mixed in. It was pretty good! Josh liked it, too. A little rich because of the cream cheese. This was prepared and we had eaten within an hour.