Pesto, Tomato and Mozzerella Paninis!

This is a recipe I read about in a great Vegan Cookbook called The Conscious Cook by Tal Ronnen. The book is great, but there are a lot of ingredients that you don't use everyday. In addition, even though I am a veg, I am not a vegan and still cook with cheese. So I put a little spin on Tal's recipe and I must say, it was a hit!

Ingredients--

Bread (I like Italian Loaf Bread)

Fresh Mozzerella

2 med size Tomatoes

For the pesto-

1/2 cup toasted pine nuts

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh basil

3 cloves of garlic (less if you don't like it really garlic-y like I do!)

1/4 c fresh parmesian cheese

pinch of sea salt

pinch of cayenne pepper

1/4 c of olive oil

Combine all ingredients for the pesto in a food processor. Pulse about 10 times until finely chopped. Then add the olive oil in a stream at the top of the spout. Pulse a couple more times.

Put either butter of olive oil (I use I can't believe its not butter spray) on the outside piece of bread.

Spread pesto, sliced tomatoes (I like them finely sliced, about 1/4 inch thick) and thin slices of mozzerella on bread. Toast in panini press for about 5 minutes. Viola!