Cilantro Lime Chicken Tacos

Every time I've started a post recently, my first thought is, "I found this on Pinterest." Really, once I'm not potty training/selling a house/building a house/feeling better, I will do a sappy love letter post to tell those of you who aren't yet addicted to the site all about it.

So, I found this recipe on Pinterest :-) We aren't big fans of Mexican food, so we don't do tacos pretty ever, but I was intrigued. This was fantastic. I LOVED the cilantro lime pesto, so I'm sure we'll make it again, but maybe serve with rice or something.

Cilantro Lime Chicken Tacos

Ingredients:

• cooking spray for sauteeing
• 2-3 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in bite sized pieces
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 cup cilantro lime pesto (recipe follows)
• flour or corn tortillas
• preferred taco garnishes (salsa, sour cream, cheese, etc)

Cilantro Lime Pesto
recipe adapted from Food Network

• 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves--do not include stems. (I used 1/2 cup dried cilantro, because that's what I had on hand)
• 2 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons sliced, toasted almonds
• 3 tablespoons chopped, fresh garlic
• 1 1/2 teaspoon lime juice (I used 1 lime)
• 1/2 cup shredded asiago (I used Parmesan, but Romano can be substituted too)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 cup chicken broth (I used Better Than Bullion)

Instructions:
1. Season chicken with salt, pepper and garlic powder.

We buy all our meat locally. We buy about 40# of chicken at a time, then spend an afternoon packaging it up. Recently, I started cubing several pounds before freezing it. It makes my life so much easier.

2. In a skillet sprayed with cooking spray, saute chicken over medium high heat and cooked through.

3. While chicken is cooking, make the awesome pesto, by mix together the cilantro, olive oil, almonds, garlic, lime juice, cheese, salt and chicken broth in a blender or food processor on low speed for 2 minutes.

I used the large bowl of my food processor, which is why my pesto is chunkier, which I like. If I would have used the small bowl, I'm sure it would have been smoother, especially if I let it go the full two minutes.

4. Toss cooked, seasoned chicken with the pesto.

 5. Fill tortillas with chicken and top with preferred garnishes.

Eet smakelijk!

Joelen, who created this recipe, offer this advice for making this recipe ahead as a freezer meal:
Cook chicken as directed as above and cool. Place chicken in freezer bag. Prepare cilantro lime pesto as directed below. Place a 1/2 cup of pesto in a small storage bag then place inside the freezer bag with the chicken. Freeze. When ready to prepare, defrost and heat chicken. Toss chicken with defrosted pesto. If desired, heat chicken and pesto together before filling tacos.