Ready, set, grill! Today, Michelle Stern of What’s Cooking offers a yummy recipe for BBQ Chicken BLT’s - perfectly suited for these sweltering days that make it challenging to cook indoors. And be sure to get your kids involved, with Michelle's "Call the Kids" tips at the end of the recipe.
BBQ Chicken BLT's
Serves 4

Mmm...BLT's in the summer, when the tomatoes are at their best! The barbeque adds great flavor to the chicken and the bread, but beware: your neighbors might come over to see what you are making for dinner! Make extra chicken to add to a salad or for lunch the next day. Serve with baked chips and pickles.

You will need:

8 slices of soft country bread

8 slices of bacon or turkey bacon

2 tomatoes, sliced

1 avocado, peeled and sliced

1 small bunch of Arugula or lettuce

1/4 cup olive oil

8 Tbs light mayonnaise

2 tsp black pepper, crushed

salt and pepper

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, sliced through the center, making four thin breast pieces.

1. Using a brush, coat each slice of bread with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper, turn the slices over, and repeat on the other side. Next, coat both pieces of chicken with the oil and then season, remembering to coat both sides.

2. Place both pieces of chicken on the barbecue and grill for 2-4 minutes. Also add the bacon, which needs less time. If the flames rise, splash over a small handful of water and move the bacon to the side to stop the meat from burning.

3. After 2 minutes, turn the bacon and the chicken. Remove bacon when brown and crisp.

4. Remove the chicken when golden. Place the bread on the grill to the side of the fire and Turn the bread after a minute, removing when just golden.

5. Mix the mayonnaise and crushed pepper.

6. Assemble sandwiches and enjoy!

Call the Kids:

Set up a tray to go to the bbq, including foil, an extra plate, tongs.

Wash tomato

Brush bread with olive oil and season

Season chicken (wash hands after)

Wash lettuce

Help assemble sandwiches

Nutrition (per serving): 669.7 calories; 49% calories from fat; 37.4g total fat; 103.4mg cholesterol; 1016.6mg sodium; 764.6mg potassium; 44.4g carbohydrates; 5.8g fiber; 1.2g sugar; 38.6g net carbs; 39.1g protein.

Image credit: FreeFoto.com

And now for our weekly dose of web highlights from some of our stylish blog partners:

One Chic Mama features the affordable and eco-friendly household products by Charlie’s Soaps. Clever Parents offers guidance on “green” decorating and remodeling. Moms’ Buzz reviews content from April and May. The Nest Baby wants you to weigh in on a report of a grandma trying to breastfeed her grandson. And you could win: a $75 gift certificate to Vincent Shoes at Modern Mom, a Homedics Shiatsu Massaging Cushion for Dad from MomFinds, and a copy of the Sex and the City: The Movie book from We Covet.

Today, Jules offes a recipe to try over the weekend:

"With the arrival of spring and summer, I can’t get enough seafood. A light seafood entrée is the perfect dinner for me, and this recipe is a lovely, easy diversion from the typical banal salmon dish. The subtle fennel flavors come in the form of a light crunch similar to celery, and contrast surprisingly well with the brininess of the olives and sweetness of the oranges. Enjoy!
 

Serves about 4

1 large or 2 small bulbs fresh fennel

1 cup black cured olives

4-5 Clementine oranges

1 bunch fresh parsley (or cilantro)*

¼ cup + 2 tablespoons (keep separated) good quality extra virgin olive oil

¼ cup orange juice

Salt and pepper

About 2 pounds fresh salmon filet

Pinch red pepper flakes

Make the salad. Trim stalks and frawns from the fennel bulbs. Slice the bulb into long, thin slices. Pit and chop olives. Peel oranges and slice each segment in half. Rinse and chop parsley. Combine all ingredients in large bowl. Mix in ¼ cup olive oil and orange juice. Add salt and pepper to taste. Allow to sit for at least 15 minutes.

Prepare the fish. While the salad is marinating, prepare the fish. Preheat oven to 350º. In large cast iron skillet, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil. Season skin side of fish with salt and a pinch of red pepper flakes. When oil is hot and begins to shimmer, place filets in skillet, skin side down. Allow to sear for at least one minute, or until skin becomes crispy. Once skin is crispy, place entire skillet in oven and bake until just cooked through (this depends on the thickness of your filets, but for a filet about 1” thick, this will be about 7 minutes).

Presentation. Plate salad on large plate and top with fish.

*I recommend parsley for this recipe only because it is more universally liked. In my house we prefer cilantro, so I use that. Each herb results in a very different flavor or the final recipe, so use whichever you prefer, or use both!"

CLICK HERE for a printable PDF of this recipe.

Given Laurel and my needs to post (her artwork, my notes-to-self), it’s not uncommon to find sticky tape shards on walls and doors throughout our home. Thankfully though, now there’s a stylish, tape-free way to exponentially increase your household display surfaces. Mayfair Lane offers clippers, photo frames, and notepads in a chic variety of graphic designs, all backed with an amazing material that grips non-porous surfaces such as stainless steel refrigerators, glass, and even wood, in addition to magnetic surfaces. I’m feeling far more affectionate towards our (drafty in winter) windows, now seeing them in a new, display-friendly light.

Want to win $50 worth of Happeez products*? Here’s how:

+ + + + +
THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED
Congrats to winner Leslie D.!
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Visit the Mayfair Lane collection, then email contests@bostonmamas.com (with ‘Mayfair Lane’ in the subject), and name a Mayfair Lane product you’d love to try.

One entry permitted per person; US entrants only.

Entry period closes at midnight EST, Thursday, May 15, 2008.

*The winner will receive a $50 gift card to use on their choice of Happeez products.

Back in graduate school I had a research assistant who tried to help back up my data while I was away at a conference and ended up deleting one of my dissertation experiments entirely (also known as “data lost due to technical difficulties” in the academic literature).

I’ve been a multiple copy backup hound ever since, and whether you share those habits, or need inspiration to take care of this tedious but critical task, check out the chic, patterned Mixit CD Stickers from See Jane Work ($7.50 for 8). These lovely labels no doubt will inspire your own data protection system, or make for a cool finish for music, photo, or video CD gifts for family and friends.

Classic New England. Lull your residents into submission with a few days of spring weather, then hit them with another dose of winter.

If you’re in need of a fun indoor activity this slushy weekend, check out this week’s On The Farm feature from Kids Craft Weekly. Laurel – who loves singing Mary Had a Little Lamb and Baa Baa Black Sheep – went crazy over the Wild and Woolly Sheep project (shown, from KCW). This project is ultra low maintenance, easy to knock together with little other than basic bathroom supplies. And as if in homage to her urban exposure to animals, Laurel pointed out that we ought to make a fire hydrant to go with the sheep, which we executed by taping construction paper to a toilet paper roll, then rolling and taping a paper cone for the top.

We’ve recently partnered up with some fellow stylish bloggers to bring you a weekly dose of cool web finds for your weekend reading. This week’s treats include:

A very fetching round up of the best-fitting, figure-flattering maternity jeans, from SheFindsMom. Kudos for Babyproofing Your Marriage, from OneChicMama. Tips on how to use color to inspire kids, from Coochicoos. The peaceful deal behind the names of Angelina Jolie’s kids, from CelebrityMoms. And the baby photo of the week, from Babyfaces.

Inquiring minds want to know about the double burner griddle that’s perfectly sized to cook an entire batch of chicken tenders (posted earlier this week).

Ours was purchased at Williams-Sonoma with generous gift credit; you can get a comparable model such as the Lodge griddle at Amazon. Along with our panini press, the double griddle is one of the workhorses of our kitchen. The only time it has moved farther than the stovetop to kitchen sink was when we moved house.

From day one, Laurel has been utterly (sometimes maddeningly) discriminating when it comes to the origin of her nutrients. She waged a fierce battle over taking breastmilk from a bottle (guess who ultimately lost that one…), and flat out refused to eat jarred baby food after months of exposure to homemade food. Once she hit toddlerhood, I repeatedly tried to entice her with store bought chicken nuggets (or other easy freezer items) to no avail.

One day we had little else other than chicken breast, eggs, and breadcrumbs in the fridge so I decided to make chicken tenders for the grownups. I didn't expect Laurel to respond favorably since she had shown little interest in meat, but she went crazy over them, particularly served with San-J Sweet & Tangy sauce (shown; click thumbnail to enlarge). These tenders now are a weekly staple, served with rice and vegetables.
To prepare the tenders, slice chicken breast (one whole breast – about 1 pound – is enough for 2 adults and 1 toddler, plus some leftovers) into pieces about ¼ inch thick and place in a bowl. Crack an egg over the chicken and mix to coat. Pour some breadcrumbs (we use Ian’s Italian Panko Breadcrumbs, shown) in a separate bowl and mix with a little salt. Heat a skillet at medium heat and thinly coat with olive oil (we have a terrific double burner griddle that allows us to do the entire batch at once). Coat chicken pieces in breadcrumbs and fry until golden and cooked through, about a minute or so on each side.

I can hardly blame Laurel for wanting homemade. These tenders are fabulous, and the leftovers do well either cut up in little chunks for her school lunch, or in pressed panini sandwiches layered with avocado, tomato, and cheese.