Breadcrumb Stuffed Chicken

Hi,  I'm Kate...and I'm a Pintrest Addict

at which point, you're supposed to respond: Hi Kate. :-)  

My friend Katie got me hooked on Pintrest, the turd.

But, what better way to find new and exciting recipes than by spending hours online in a potentially time wasting way? 

If you haven't tried it out, and are super crafty, love DIY stuff, want new ideas for decoration, or just want new ideas for dinner, then you definately need to give it a gander. 

I have been on pintrest for about 2 weeks now, and found this recipe right at the beginning, but we have had few nights at home where I want to cook, with the move, and family visiting, it just hasn't been conducive.  So I have been anxiously (And I do mean anxiously) awaiting the appropriate time to use this recipe (and I mean REALLY anxious!  I even went to the store after working 12 hours!)

So yesterday Matt asked me what we wanted to do for dinner, so I emailed him the link to the recipe that I was going to try, and he got super excited!

I am very lucky to have a wonderful husband on which to try out all of my new recipes, and I'm also lucky that I chose this recipe to start out with!

Preheat the oven to 400

Take note of where your oven racks are before you preheat,

if they are too high, you risk a nasty burn (True Story)

Combine a small handful of baby spinach, a handful of grape tomatoes, and 1 Tablespoon of basil

(This is what the recipe calls for, and what I used the first time, but next time,

I would add more basil [I love basil} and maybe some onion)

1 Cup of Lowfat Ricotta Cheese

(This was the first time I've worked with ricotta,

but it definately won't be the last!)

One Clove of garlic, minced

(I use the preminced garlic in a jar, it lasts longer and I hate chopping garlic,

I have a hard time getting it chopped finely enough)

(Just remember to refridgerate after opening. :-))

A dash of oregano

(I definately could have used more, I was a little chincy with it)

2 Tablespoon of cheese

(I meant to grab Italian Blend, but grabbed Pizza instead in my post-work exhaustion)

I put all of the whole ingredients in our Ninja food processor, but if you don't have a food processor no worries!

Just chop the spinach and basil, and dice the tomato, and add all of the above ingredients to the ricotta and mix well

Season with salt/pepper to taste

It should look something like this. :-D

It smells pretty tasty already!

Rinse two chicken breasts, and trim off any fat

Cut a slit length-wise in the chicken breast, almost all the way through

Stuff the ricotta mixture into the slit, and season chicken with salt/pepper 

(this will all fit, but it will be snug)

(It can be messy)

Then Close the slit with toothpicks

(Do this!!! It makes a huge difference)

(Which I learned, as I didn't read all of the directions)

Heat some olive oil up in a skillet

(Preferably an oven safe one, you'll see why later)

Pour some bread crumbs in a plate

(I used italian blend, but next time i would add some

 rosemary, thyme and pepper, and maybe some onion or garlic)

Coat the chiken completely with breadcrumbs and place in skillet.  Brown on all sides (about 3-4 minutes)

(This is where I hit some trouble [mainly because I didn't read the directions all the way, and didn't close it with toothpicks]) 

(I told Matt:  It smells amazing, but I don't think it will end up looking very pretty)

If you used an oven safe skillet, just put the skillet into the pre-heated oven and bake until chicken is cooked (about 30 minutes)

(This time will, of course depend on how much chicken, but 165 is where you want it to be)

(I am a temperature nazi when it comes to chicken)

It will look something like this!

(It turned out prettier than I expected. :-) )

All in All I think it was a resounding success! Matt chowed down on his,  And I ate enough salad before that I was able to save some for leftovers for lunch at work today!!  WHOO!!!

All of my co-workers are jealous.

You can find a printable copy of the recipe here

Original recipe found on fortheloveofcooking-recipes.blogspot.com