Baked Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Jalapeno Jack and Spinach

Man, oh, man...was this a delicious meal!

INGREDIENTS:

4 Small or 2 large chicken breasts
***I strongly recommend The Choppin' Block for chicken breasts. They're not huge, which means they're hormone-free, and it makes them much easier to cook. Plus, they taste great and have a really good texture.
1 Cup shredded Jalapeno Jack, or if you don't like the spice, you can use regular Jack cheese
1 Large handful of baby spinach
1/2 Tbsp Panko bread crumbs
1Tbsp olive oil
Seasoning Salt and Black Pepper to taste
1 Cup broccoli
1 Cup baby Bella mushrooms, sliced
1/2 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp butter

DIRECTIONS:

1. Slice down the thickest side of the chicken breast so that you can "open it up"

2. Put 1/4 of the shredded cheese (or 1/2 if you're using the large breasts) on the "opened-up" chicken breasts

3. Put 1/4 of the spinach (or 1/2) on top of the cheese

4. Lightly sprinkle some Panko on the spinach

5. Fold chicken over so that it's back together/"closed" and use toothpicks to tightly secure it

6. Sprinkle seasoning salt and black pepper on top of the chicken (amount is up to you)

7. Follow steps 1-6 for the remaining chicken and place chicken in glass baking dish (treated with nonstick spray)

8. Bake at 350 for approximately 30 minutes

9. About halfway through cook time, brush olive oil (or melted butter) on top of chicken to get it to come to a golden brown color

9. Blanch broccoli in water on the stove for about 2 minutes

10. Remove broccoli from hot water, place in a colander, and run cool water over it (to stop the cooking)

11. Put butter and minced garlic in a skillet and saute garlic for a couple of minutes over med-low to med heat

12. Add mushrooms to skillet and saute for about 5 minutes, add a few dashes of soy sauce and stir occasionally

13. Add broccoli to the skillet, stir broccoli, mushrooms, garlic together and saute for about 5 more minutes

SERVE!

I LOVED the broccoli and mushrooms cooked together this way! We will definitely make this side again and will probably try it with other sauces/ spices.

The chicken was perfect! You could also grill them...once the "burn ban" is over! :-/ If Ryan could have grilled them, that's probably what he would've done, but they turned out great baked.

Try using different cheeses and veggies to stuff the chicken, if you like. Feta would've been good with the spinach, also. (Ryan has done that combo before when making chicken breasts spirals.) If you try this recipe or your own variation, let us know how it turns out!

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Sour Cream Parm Chicken

Warning: This chicken is soooo yummy and almost too easy.

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb of chicken breasts
3/4 to 1 cup of sour cream
1/2 cup of grated parmesan
1 Tbsp seasoned salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 to 1/2 tsp black pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Combine all ingredients - other than the chicken - in a large bowl and stir well. Place the chicken in a glass baking dish. (I lined my dish with foil and lightly coated it with non-stick spray.) Spread the sour cream mixture over the top of the chicken. It shouldn't be too thick, but cover the chicken entirely so that you can't see it. Bake at 375 for about 25-30 minutes. Then, broil on low until it begins to brown the tops. When they were done, I sprinkled on some paprika and parsley.

For our veggie, I cut a zucchini into round slices and halved them. I placed them in a non-stick spray treated glass baking dish and topped with a light sprinkling of basil, Tony Chachere's More Spice, onion powder and italian blend shredded cheese.

Ryan also diced and cooked up some potatoes in the skillet. He used olive oil in the skillet and added Chachere's and salt when they were done.

A delicious and EASY Sunday meal! :)

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Chicken Broccoli Penne Pasta

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE broccoli pasta dishes! The funny thing is, I didn't even know I liked broccoli until I was around 23 or 24 years old. My mom doesn't like it, so I never had it growing up. But, now, I eat broccoli at least twice a week and sometimes three times a week. I think my mom is proud of me - especially since she didn't think she'd ever see the day I would eat a vegetable!

Ingredients:

• Three small chicken breasts from The Choppin' Block
• Fresh broccoli florets, about 1.5-2 cups
• Barilla Penne Pasta
• Ragu Light Parmesan Alfredo Sauce
• Low-sodium chicken broth
• 4 garlic cloves, minced

Directions:

1. Cube and brown the chicken with salt and black pepper in a large/deep skillet; Once the chicken gets some color, add the garlic and about a 1/4 cup of chicken broth; Let it simmer
2. Bring a pot of water to boil, add salt, add pasta (enough for two servings); Cook til al dente
3. Steam or simmer your broccoli for about 5 minutes; it should be just beginning to soften in the stalk
4. After chicken has simmered and the liquid has reduced some, add alfredo sauce (enough for two servings - which is more than the bottle says - we use about half the bottle when we have other ingredients in the dish besides pasta); Add broccoli and let simmer
5. Add pasta to the sauce and stir; pasta should be coated well and all the ingredients "mixed" well
6. Serve and EAT!

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