As you can see, though I didn't go into labor, last week was full of sweetness. This is saying a lot considering Hope got pretty sick with her first ever fever and Joe was slammed with a case that kept him burning the midnight+ oil. Now the fever is gone, the deadline has practically passed, and not only did we have extra help to get through it all-- we had our own in-house baker! Mmm... wish I could hand you one of the oatmeal raisin cookies with even homemade icing or a sinful sliver of from scratch poundcake right now.

Since I can't and it's been difficult to have anything but baby on the brain these last weeks, for a change of pace, I thought I'd share a new recipe I stumbled upon. Part of the reason we chose "With These Hands" as our blog title is because we love when people get creative, especially when they handcraft just about anything. This may not exactly be a masterpiece work of art, but we find it a pretty light and delicious meal as have several of our summer guests. At this time of year, any time you can fire up the grill is a winner in our book! So, for your eating pleasure...

Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Chicken.

First, most of the ingredients for serving three or four...
So you can tell what all's in there for marinating the chicken... Combine 1/4 cup basalmic vinegar, 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves, 1 tablespoon olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Do this the day before and coat chicken evenly for best results. When you're ready, fire up the grill and get those babies going!

For the pesto... combine 12 sun-dried tomatoes (after being soaked in warm water for about 30 min.), 1 clove of garlic (or equivalent amount of already minced garlic), and the remaining 1/4 cup of fresh basil in a food processor until finely ground. No major equipment needed... as you can see I'm using the mini-one given to me when I began to make Hope's baby food. Add 1 tablespoon of parmesan cheese and 1 of olive oil, a pinch of sugar, 3 tablespoons of low sodium chicken broth, and more pepper to taste and give it another go in the food processor. You can store this good stuff up to five days.

Serve each chicken breast with a dollop of sun-dried tomato pesto, a few extra basil leaves if you have them, and an extra dusting of parmesan cheese (over a bed of rice would be even better). Pair it with some steamed, cheesy broccoli and garden fresh cucumbers and carrots (thanks, sweet neighbors, for always sharing!) or whatever else sounds good to you. And enjoy!
If we get the chance, stay tuned... we've decided to experiment this weekend. Joe's been in a fondue mood for some time (We used to use this wedding gift cookbook for cheap Fri. date nights... choose a dip, grocery shop, and try it out over a movie). Then the Hightowers brought us back the fun, pancake one from sunny California (We love some breakfast around here... Joe has totally converted me!) Happy, delicious even, weekend to all!