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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Orzo with Chicken and Broccoli

Shocking...I am blogging about another dish with chicken and broccoli!

I was telling Ryan that I realize, now, after working on the blog, that we eat A LOT of chicken and broccoli meals. He agreed, but he pointed out that we don't often repeat ourselves. So, here is our latest chicken-broccoli dish, which we had for supper last night.

INGREDIENTS:

2 large chicken breasts or 3-4 small ones
1 head of fresh broccoli, trimmed
2 servings of orzo pasta (follow directions on the packaging for the serving size - for this meal, though, Ryan used a slight bit more than what the packaging called a serving)
2 garlic cloves, minced
Vegetable broth, about 1/2 cup
Water, about 1/2 cup
Monterey Jack cheese, a block or shredded
Parmesan cheese (optional)
Salt and black pepper

STEPS:

1. Cube the chicken and brown in a skillet with the garlic, salt and pepper to taste
2. Put the veg broth and water in a small pot on the stove and bring to a boil; add the orzo and cook for the amount of time the packaging indicates
3. Braise the broccoli in salted water til it is as tender as you prefer
4. When the orzo is ready add monterey jack cheese; Ryan grated a block and used about 1/4 cup; stir well
5. Make a "bed" of orzo on a plate and top with the chicken and broccoli; lightly sprinkle parmesan (optional) on top & serve

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How creative are we with our chicken and broccoli dishes?? ;-) We REALLY liked the orzo. This was our first time using it, and we will definitely try it again. I think my next project will be making homemade rice-a-roni with the orzo and rice. I'm sure I'll tell you all about it!