Pretty Pesto

"Omit and substitute! That's how recipes should be written. Please don't ever get so hung up on published recipes that you forget that you can omit and substitute."- Jeff Smith

I have an affinity for Pesto Chicken.  I'm sure I saw the idea somewhere long ago and have stored said idea in my mind for days when I just don't know what we're going to have for dinner.  So, when I was planning our overwhelmingly long (& first) clean eating/Paleo menu, I knew I wanted to have something that I could throw together quickly after work one night.  "Pesto Chicken!", I thought...until I realized that the jar stuff from the grocery wasn't going to cut it.  And, so, the Google search began:

"pesto with basil and walnuts" nope
"paleo pesto" a bit too involved
"pesto no dairy" BINGO!

I found this recipe at Go Dairy Free and ran with it!

1 cup of fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup of olive oil
Salt to taste (we try to stay away from salt as much as possible, so I didn't add any)
2 cloves of garlic (we <3 it!)
1/4 cup of pine nuts (I used walnuts in this case because it's what I had)
4 Chicken Breasts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a food processor, chop the walnuts and garlic until coarse.  
Add in the basil and pulse a couple of times to mix in
Drizzle in olive oil slowly and continue to process until well combined
(feel free to add more olive oil if your pesto is a bit too dry)
And BOOM!  Pretty Pesto.

Then, I just smothered the chicken in it and put them in the oven for 45 minutes (this varies on different ovens).  I serve them with a couple of veggies and refrigerate any left overs for lunch the next day. 

I had to take a picture of it because the color was GORGEOUS!  So bright and it smelled absolutely lovely, y'all!  Give it a try....I promise you won't regret it.