grilled chicken tenders and garden vegetables

2 chicken tenders or one boneless skinless chicken breast

1/2 red pepper cut into two pieces

1 small eggplant sliced lengthwise

1 zucchini sliced lengthwise

olive oil

baby greens

4 tablespoons mayo

2 tablespoons homemade pesto

I use a cast iron grill pan and heat it on a medium heat, coating it with oil.

i also coat the vegetables with oil and grill until tender...several minutes per side each.

I grill the chicken last, after coating it with oil and dust it with garlic salt on each side.

I serve it by stacking the vegetables, chicken and salad greens on a plate and top it with the mayo/pesto mixture.

Cost for this meal ...the chicken came in a pack for $6 and I used about 1/4 of it and froze the remainder. I happened to pick the vegetables from my garden, but at the farmers market, the peppers were $.50 each and the zucchini and eggplant were $1 a pound. The salad greens were priced at $2.50 a pound.

For the mayo I use Helmans and the pesto was homemade using only basil, garlic, oil and kosher salt.

It was most delicious, very economical and under 400 calories per serving too. I had a glass of wine to top it off.

Making the pictures of food I was about to eat was quite a different issue. I wasn't as prepared to tackle that as I thought I was. Being the food photographer, the stylist and the patron all at once was a complex experience. Tomorrow I will set up a better photo space off of the kitchen and make test images of stand in food.

All in all, not bad for a first day.