Appetizer Sandwiches

These are not your regular chicken salad appetizer sandwiches! This recipe uses heavenly cream cheese and sweet bursting sun-dried tomatoes in the mix. You’ll find purple onion and celery in there for crunch! Spreading the bread with pesto will add a rich buttery zing to top it all off. Use any bread you’d like with this ultra delicious appetizer recipe.

Feel free to use store bought pesto and sun-dried tomatoes for these appetizer sandwiches...but, did you know it is super easy to make your own sun dried tomatoes? Check out the recipe below to learn how!

Is regular pesto to rich for you? Try my mock pesto recipe below that does not use nuts. Cut even more fat and substitute some of the olive oil for water. Trust me, you won’t even miss that extra fat.

Chicken and Sun-dried Tomato Salad Sandwiches with Pesto

1/2 lb. cooked chicken breast

2 Tbsp sun-dried tomatoes chopped (oven baked sun dried tomatoes recipe follows)

2 tsp purple onion very finely chopped

2 Tbsp celery finely chopped

1/2 cup regular or light cream cheese softened

1 Tbsp regular or light mayonnaise

Salt and black pepper to taste

Pesto sauce - store bought or homemade (easy mock pesto recipe follows)

8 slices wheat bread (can use any bread: croissants, baguette, etc)

Shred chicken completely with two forks and place in mixing bowl. Add sun-dried tomatoes, purple onion, celery, cream cheese, mayonnaise, salt and pepper. Mix with fork until all ingredients are combined. Chill.

Cut crusts off bread slices and toast lightly. Spread four of the bread slices evenly with pesto sauce to the edges. Scoop equal amounts of the chicken salad on the other four slices and spread to the edges. Top pesto sauce slices on chicken salad slices and cut each sandwich into 4 equal mini sandwiches. Serve.

1 tomato

Heat oven to 200 degrees F. Cut tomato into eight small equal sized wedges. Place on lightly greased aluminum covered baking sheet. Place tomatoes skin side down onto the baking sheet and bake in oven for about 8 hours or until fully dehydrated. Tomatoes should be dark in color and chewy, but not hard. This makes enough for the above recipe. Feel free to “sun-dry” more tomatoes!

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil or cilantro

3 Tbsp parmesan cheese

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 clove garlic

Juice of 1 lime

Salt to taste

In blender or food processor, mix all ingredients until smooth. Chill.