Saturday, June 30, 2012

Spinach-Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Resolutions are a funny thing--you make them because you genuinely want to accomplish whatever it is you're setting out to do. It's a public declaration, and that translates to you being accountable for whatever your resolution may be. So when I set out to be better about blogging, I brought you all into my thoughts and asked for you to remind me when I started to slack. Well, remind me you did! Thanks for keeping me on track. And, um, sorry for being a slacker.

I do want to assure you that I haven't just been twiddling my fingers over here since my last post. A lot of things have been going on since then!

Thing 1: We moved! This lucky kitchen is the new home to all of our cooking adventures.


 Thing 2: A trip to ever-exciting Heathrow, Florida for work!


Thing 3: Blake and Courtney come to visit! Time to be tourists in DC. Sad fact: they knew more about the monument locations than Mike or I did. #localfail


Thing 4: Back on the airplane...another trip to Florida! This time to Heathrow, Miami, and Orlando. Hands down, the highlight of that trip was Miami. A morning run on the beach followed by breakfast on your personal balcony overlooking the ocean is a winning way to start any day. I hear that people have mixed feelings about Miami, but I have to say, I was a fan!




Thing 5: Road tripping on down to Wilmington, NC for Carole Ann and David's wedding - Congrats CA & David! Of course, we stopped for barbeque on the way down. And GPC and I created our own modeling photo shoot after our hair appointments at the salon. 





As you can see, while I've been derelict in my blogging, it hasn't been for lack of excitement! This chicken meal is actually the first meal that we made in the new apartment. MM loves to cook, and this is really his creation. Not only is it DELICIOUS, it's simple enough to put together on a weeknight and impressive-looking enough to serve for company. We served it with steamed asparagus and a rice pilaf (and a cold glass of chardonnay!).



Spinach-Stuffed Chicken Breasts


Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 9oz bag of baby spinach 
1/4 cup pine nuts + extra for garnish
4 boneless chicken breasts
1/2- 3/4 cup feta cheese (varies, to taste)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425F.

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in large skillet. Saute onion and garlic until onion begins sweating. Add spinach and salt and pepper to taste, cover the skillet, and let spinach cook down (approximately 3 minutes). Take spinach mixture off of the stove and add pine nuts. 


Trim chicken breasts of all fat, and then make an incision into the thick side of the chicken breast to the point that it creates a pocket inside the breast (but do not cut the breast all the way through so that it is in two pieces).


Stuff approximately 2 heaping tablespoons of the spinach mixture into each chicken breast in the "pocket." Once stuffed, add a light layer of feta cheese on top of the spinach mixture in each breast.


Place the chicken breasts in a greased 9x12 baking dish, and sprinkle each chicken breast with the remaining spinach mixture, feta, and pine nuts.


Bake for approximately 32 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink in the center and juices run clear.