Chicken Avocado Panini and Caprese Salad

I love sandwiches....like a lot. I had bought a skillet/panini press so that we could have a skillet to make french toast, but I use it for sandwiches a lot more. It's amazing. My favorite sandwich to make on it, which is equally amazing, is a Chicken Avocado Panini. I sort of made it up as I went along and picked ingredients that I thought would taste yummy together. This is also one of Josh's favorites too, albeit the vegetarian version. Recently, I made a caprese salad and I thought it would be a perfect side with this or any sandwich. So today, I will be discussing two recipes! Aren't you lucky?

Ingredients for Chicken Avocado Panini:
4-6 Slices of your Favorite Deli Sliced Rotisserie Chicken Breast
4 Slices Provolone Cheese
One Hass Avocado
4-6 Slices Ready to Serve Bacon or Regular Bacon
4 Slices Garlic Tuscan Bread
Ranch Dressing to spread

Directions:

Spread each slice of bread with ranch dressing...mmm tangy. Place two slices of provolone on one half of each sandwich, chicken breast slices on top of that, and bacon slices on top of that. I learned a cool trick from Alton Brown of spreading avocado. Hold an avocado half in one hand and mush the avocado in it's skin with a fork with the other hand. Scoop out the goods and spread it onto the half of bread without the fixings. Put the two slices together and press the sandwiches in the panini press until the cheese is melted and everything looks fused together - about 5 minutes. Enjoy the deliciousness that is the Chicken Avocado Sandwich!

Ingredients for Caprese Salad: 
1 Pint of Cherry Tomatoes
A Shake or Two or Three of Basil
16oz of Mozzarella Cheese
Italian Dressing to Taste

Directions: 
Chop all the cherry tomotoes in half and place them in a medium sized bowl. Cut up mozzarella cheese into bite sized cubes and place them in the bowl with the tomato halves. Shake some basil and mix the cheese, tomatoes, and basil in the bowl. Add Italian dressing to your tastes. I didn't really measure how much I put in, but it was less than a cup. You don't it to be soupy when on your plate, but just enough to be able to taste it with the other flavors.

Put the Caprese Salad mix on the side of your sandwich and enjoy!

Vegetarian Alternative: Replace the chicken and bacon with tomato slices and onion! Still just as delicious!

Enjoy,
Becky