Stuffed Chicken

This chicken looks so fancy and has a lot of flavor.  We like this for Sunday dinner.  When you cut into the chicken breasts you get lots of color. 

Ingredients:

8 medium chicken breasts (boneless skinless)    8.66
1 box chopped frozen spinach                           1.42
8 oz crumbled feta (two containers)                   4.00
1/2 C reduced fat mayo                                      .10
8 slices of bacon                                               3.18
salt, pepper and Greek seasoning to taste

Directions:

Thaw and drain the chopped spinach.  Add the spinach and feta to a medium bowl and mix well with a fork. 
Stir in the mayo.  This will work as a binder to hold the filling together. 

This picture is about half the amount you will have.  Now take the chicken breasts and carefully cut each one along the side to open them up like a book.  They wont always turn out perfect, but no one will notice.  Just try your best. 

Now sprinkle the outside and inside of the breast with salt, pepper and Greek seasoning.  If you don't have Greek seasoning you can use some thyme and oregano.  Then take two large spoonfuls of feta & spinach mixture and place it on one half of the chicken breast.

Then fold the other side of the breast back over top of the cheese.   Wrap one slice of bacon around the breast.  This will help hold the cheese in while the chicken is cooking.

Now repeat this process with the other chicken breasts.  When you finish you will have 8 stuffed chicken breasts.  I put two breasts on a foil lined baking pan for dinner and place the other 6 breasts into two labeled freezer bags.  Make sure when you place the breasts into the freezer storage bags you lay only three side by side in the bags to prevent them from freezing together into a solid brick.  Then when you would like to thaw them for dinner, only take out as many as you need for that dinner and place them on a plate in the fridge to thaw for two days. 

When you are ready to bake, place the desired number of stuffed chicken breasts on a foil lined baking sheet and bake in the middle of the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Then place the pan under the broiler for 2-5 minutes to crisp up the bacon on the outside of the chicken.  This is how mine looked with a side of wild rice.

I was able to make 8 stuffed chicken breasts for $2.17 a breast.  If you do not want the added calories and fat from the bacon you can omit the bacon and secure each breast with a toothpick or two to help keep the filling in.  If you do not care for goat cheese you can easily substitute 8oz of shredded mozzarella.   In the summer we sliced heirloom tomatoes (thanks Alicia) and baked them along side of the breasts.  Then when the chicken was cooked we slid the roasted sliced tomatoes on top of the breasts and it made an awesome sauce.  Mmmmm mmmm!   This chicken looks so fancy you can serve it to guests. 

Enjoy!
Christie aka Keeza