Chicken Gnocchi Pesto Soup & Pesto Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Evening lovely blog reader!

Tonight we bring you Ma's latest pick. Which is fabulous because it deals with pesto. Fun fact about your blog mistress if I could eat one sauce for the rest of my life it would be pesto. Who doesn't love the pine nuts, spinach, cheese, and olive oil confection? I haven't met a pesto hater yet (I'm excluding Geoff, he's just a pesto meanie.). So with that in mind we wanted to bring you 2 recipes (yep, a twofer!) that will satisfy your love for pesto. I know I'm not alone here. Pesto is the best sauce ever. Not convinced? Well gives these recipes a whirl:


Here's what you'll need:

Chicken Gnocchi Pesto Soup
Prep/Total Time: 25 min. Yield: 4 Servings

Ingredients
*1 jar (15 ounces) roasted garlic Alfredo sauce
*2 cups water
*2 cups cubed rotisserie chicken
*1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
*1/4 teaspoon salt
*1/4 teaspoon pepper
*1 package (16 ounces) potato gnocchi
*3 cups coarsley chopped fresh spinach
*4 teaspoons prepared pesto

Directions:
1. In a large saucepan, combine the first six ingredients; bring to a gentle boil, stirring occasionally.
2. Stir in gnocchi and spinach; cook 3-8 minutes or until gnocchi float.
3. Top each serving with pesto.


WW Points: *9 per serving




Pesto Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Prep/Total Time: 10 min. Yield: 4 Servings

Ingredients:
*8 slices walnut-raisin bread
*3 to 4 tablespoons prepared pesto
*8 slices provolone and mozzarella cheese
*8 slices tomato
*1/4 cup butter, softened

Directions:
1. Spread four slices of bread with pesto. Layer with cheese and tomato; top with remaining bread.
2. Butter outsides of sandwiches.
3. In a large skillet over medium heat, toast sandwiches for 2-3 minutes on each side or until golden brown and cheese is melted.

WW Points: *11.5 per serving

Wow okie so those didn't last long. I even dug the cinnamon bread. Don't let that scare you off the cinnamon bread with the cheese, tomato, and pesto give the sandwich a salty/sweet taste. Which is always awesome in my book!



Tid Bits:
*None tonight guys


Ma's Spot: Well once again people it was italian night in our home. Welcome back my old friend. It was pesto night from my wonderful source taste of home. Now the women in my family love pesto and this recipe did not disappoint us. This soup was delicious and it would've made

Sandra Lee proud. It tasted homemade but it wasn't. When it was done and you add that little dollop of pesto on top and it melted in the soup. Oh my gosh it was awesome and creamy. The spinach I thought for a second I was going to end up using frozen but I'm so glad I stuck to the recipe because the fresh spinach mixed in with the recipe so well.
Now onto the sandwich, when I read about this recipe it made me think of Dinah and her out of left field recipes. So I said what the heck

I'm gonna try it. I have to say it's an odd combination with the raisin bread but some how it worked out fantastic. The combination of the salty cheese and sweetness of the bread was amazing. Seriously readers this is a recipe night you have to try. You won't be disappointed. This is a winner, even my son in law (who hates pesto) loved them both.



*SNACK CORNER:* It's time for snack corner! Where we take new snacks in the grocery store and break it down for you. We tell you which are hot and which are not. Let's get to this week's pick:

WW Points: *3 for 2 popsicles


Dinah: Tonight we bring you the latest popsicle from yosicle. We haven't really done a popsicle review so I'm quite jazzed for this one. As Ma mentions down below I cannot stand yogurt. I'd actually rather eat my own arm then to gobble down the tangy grossness that is yogurt. So I decided to go for it tonight with these yogurt duo popsicles for the sake of my love for popsicles. So I can't even hate, these were really good. The middle actually tasted like vanilla ice cream rather than yogurt so that helps with the hate on yogurt. So give these a shot besides they've gotta be good if I your yogurt hating blog mistress loved them.


Ma: I have to say I was surprised when Dinah suggested these for snack corner I was surprised because everyone knows Dinah hates yogurt. She is the complete opposite of me because I could eat yogurt 3 or 4 times a day (and I do!). I've had popsicles with a vanilla filling in the middle before but these with the yogurt in the middle are fantastic. So with the yogurt giving it a sweet and creamy taste these are a winner in my book.




Alrighty that's all for tonight folks. We'll see you here next week with another recipe. Have a great week guys!



Spoons & Spatula's
~Dinah & Ma