wine country chicken salad on foccacia with sharp cheddar, rocket and hearts of palm

made a great, fresh sandwich for dinner tonite, courtesy of tasty ingredients from trader joe's. it's been a while since i've been to tj's, let alone cook dinner at home. things have been so busy i haven't had the time to. christien and i have been eating out almost exclusively for the past 6 months or so. and yes, it's showing around our waists.

but we're getting back on track and after hip hop class tonite at the gym, i picked up a few ingredients at tj's and made this scrumptious sandwich:


what we have here is tj's amazing wine country chicken salad with cranberries and walnuts, layered with thick wedges of sharp cheddar cheese, quartered hearts of palm and fresh, peppery rocket (arugula), on thickly sliced herbed foccacia drizzled with kalamata olive oil and balsamic vinegar with a few cranks of freshly cracked pepper. all accompanied by some crisp and sweet sugar snap peas and a glass of pomegranate lemonade. all from tj's. except for kalamata olive oil which i got while olive oil tasting at pasolivo olive oil farm in paso robles, california.


the foccacia was a perfect choice of bread, soaking up the wonderful sweet, savory and creamy flavors of the chicken salad and olive oil and balsamic. the cheddar provides a nice sharp tang while the rocket provides a nice peppery crunch. mm mm mm... head over to tj's tonite and make this tasty sandwich!

oh, and doesn't this creation look amazing on the shiny white plate from crate and barrel that christien got me for birthday last year? the clean lines and bright white color really help set off the colors of the ingredients. great for food porn by the way, for those of you who are trying to figure out how to take better pictures of food.