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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Chicken Breast Spirals with Capicola and Swiss

As I have said before, we are very spoiled by Ryan working at The Choppin' Block. Last night's entree is a perfect example.

Yesterday, while he was at work, Ryan took four chicken breasts and thinned them using a tenderizer mallet. Then, he layered a piece of swiss and piece of capicola over each breast and rolled them up, securing them with string.

He brought them home and added only olive oil, salt and black pepper, and he grilled them over medium heat coal - rotating them along the way - for about 20 minutes. When they are ready to serve, the string should be cut off.

Our sides were asparagus and loaded mashed potatoes.

For the asparagus, I cut off the woody stems and boiled them for about 2-3 minutes. Then, I placed them on a baking sheet, poured about a tbsp of olive oil over them and sprinkled them with approximately 1/4 of a packet of dry italian dressing seasoning. I put them in the oven on 400 for about 15 minutes - turning them halfway through.

For Ryan's mashed potato, I peeled, cubed and boiled one medium-large potato until it was soft. I drained the pot and added a splash of chicken broth, a tbsp of butter and mashed it all together. Next, I added about a tbsp of shredded cheddar, a tsp of chives and some real bacon bits/pieces, and stirred to combine the ingredients.

I LOVED this chicken! I told him to keep coming up with different spiral combinations, because I will be more than happy to be the taste-tester!

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