Arugula Pesto Panini

Yesterday, my book club met at one of my favorite little cafe's in town.  I love this place because it quaint, cozy, intimate, and just a great place to meet friends, enjoy some coffee, and of course, discuss a good book - especially on a rainy day like yesterday.  Anyway, they serve this AHH-MAZING sandwich that I just had to make at home because it was too good to not share with y'all.  Here is my version this cafe inspired favorite!

Ingredients:

2 Slices of your favorite bread 

Cream Cheese (I used 1/3 less fat)

Avocado slices from 1/2 of an avocado 

Spinach

Arugula Pesto

Salt & pepper to taste

Cooking Spray (I use Pam with Olive Oil)

Directions:

1. For the arugula pesto, I made a pesto sauce using a basic pesto recipe (see Krishma's Pesto Recipe) and replaced 1/2 of the basil with organic arugula (so if your pesto recipe calls for 2 cups of basil, use 1 cup basil and 1 cup arugula) to give it a nice sharp taste.

2.  On a multi grain bread, spread cream cheese on one piece of bread and the pesto on the other piece of the bread.

3.  Place the two pieces of bread together and put them in a panini maker that you have sprayed with some cooking spray.

4.  Once your bread has toasted and you've got the nice grill marks on there, pull it out of the panini maker and let it cool for a few minutes.

5.  Open the sandwich and place more cream cheese and/or pesto on the inside if needed.

6.  Place sliced avocado and a little salt & pepper on one side of the sandwich.

7.  Finish off with some spinach, place your second piece of bread on top, & enjoy!

Note, typically a panini is made on Italian white bread but as you know, I like to make things as healthy as possible, so I switched it up and made it on a multi grain bread instead.