Ang's Chicken Artichoke Panini

One of the gifts I gave my mother for Christmas this year was a Panini Press.  She has yet to use it and I've been dying to!  Something kept coming up for dinners but tonight was wide open.... I'd like to share with you what I created:

What I used:

• Spinach Parmesan bread (pre-sliced)
  
• Chicken Breast (Pre-packaged and pre-sliced)
  
• Pesto (in a jar)
  
• Artichokes (in a jar, not canned)
  
• Sun-Dried Tomatoes (again, from a jar, not can)
  
• Provolone Cheese
  

Plug in and pre-heat the press while you put you sandwich together.



Putting the sandwich together:
Take 2 slices of bread and spread pesto on both slices, put cheese on one slice.  On the other, put 2 slices (or however many it takes to cover the slice of bread) of chicken breast, folded in half.  Fit in as many Artichokes and Sun-Dried Tomatoes as you like, I used 4 of each on top of each other across the length of the sandwich.  Then lay out one more piece of chicken breast across the length.  Take the other slice of bread (with the cheese) and put it on top of your creation.


Grill the Panini:
The Press will be hot as you've been warming it up the entire time, so toss that baby on there and get grillin'!  Close the top and let it roll, press down slightly to get everything good and tight.  Being that you are grilling on both sides, you can lift the top to watch the color and let it grill to your liking.  
*If you don't have a Panini Press you can use a grill pan for this step.  Put one half of the sandwich down on the pan and place another pan, heavier, on top of it.  Flip the sandwich when it's grilled to your liking and repeat with another pan on top to grill the other side.


I used all pre-packed ingredients because I'm a fan of convenience.  Of course, you can buy chicken breast cook it and cut it into chunks, bake your own bread, buy unsliced bread, make your own pesto, etc.  I was hungry and for my first attempt I figured I would buy all the stuff ready to go :)  My sandwich was absolutely delicious, which is no big surprise because I love all the ingredients!  I have hopes and dreams for other sandwich creations and I am certainly willing to try any creation you may have, so drop a suggestion my way!  


(I took the photo from my phone [I was anxious to eat], so I apologize for the quality)