Sunday, July 15, 2012

Mozzarella Stuffed Chicken


Some recipes are born of desperation; this is what’s in the house, we need dinner, how can I make it work?  Some are born of creativity; hey I bet this would be really good!  Still others come from trying to use up certain ingredients; why did I buy SO MUCH cheese?!?   This is one of those recipes.

Recently most of the local grocery stores have been putting pasta and pasta sauce on sale; really, really good sales.   I’m a sale and coupon shopper, so I’ve stocked up on the pasta and sauce.  It’s quick and easy, it has a long shelf life, it was a really great deal, and we like it.  That being said, I thought it might be a good idea to try something a little different with it before we get tired of it.

Boneless, skinless chicken breast has also been on sale, so there’s quite a bit of that in the freezer right now.  We also have A LOT of cheese right now because I shouldn’t be allowed in the cheese section at Sam’s Club without adult supervision.  I really like cheese, and I like buying in bulk.  I went to buy cheese for lasagna when my in-laws were coming for dinner and somehow I ended up leaving with enough cheese to make lasagna for about 147 people.  I don’t have that many in-laws, so we had a lot of cheese left over, hence the need for a recipe involving cheese, chicken, pasta, and sauce.  So here it is (it’s quite delicious, if I may say so myself):


Mozzarella Stuffed Chicken:


4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

4 thick slices fresh Mozzarella Cheese

1 onion, thinly sliced (I used half a red onion, and half a yellow onion, because that’s what was in the refrigerator needing to be used up)

½ orange or red bell pepper, thinly sliced

Garlic Powder

Italian Seasoning

¼ cup butter, melted

1/3 cup dry white wine (I imagine you can use chicken broth instead, but it’s really good with the wine)

1 box of pasta 

2 small jars pasta sauce


Trim fat from chicken breasts and pound them out flat.  Roll one slice of the Mozzarella cheese, ¼ of the onion and pepper, and a sprinkle of garlic powder and Italian Seasoning in each chicken breast.  Place them in a baking dish, open side up.  Pour the wine and melted butter over them, then sprinkle with garlic powder and Italian Seasoning.  Cover, and bake at 350° for about an hour and 15 minutes, or until chicken is done.

Serve over pasta cooked according to package directions, with warm sauce.

Enjoy!

4 comments:

  1. that does sound delicious! I'll have to try it sometime soon! I had to laugh about the pasta sauce abundance when it was on sale; that's how we had 9 jars of Ragu in our pantry (now down to 6). Love your thoughts about cheese too; we go through that a lot too so I am always buying the big bags of it when it goes on sale and I just rotate them along as we finish one bag :)

    hope your day is a good one!

    betty

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    1. I'm addicted to sale/coupon shopping, so it's not unusual for us to be in that position. The recipe was really good though.

      I'm with you on the cheese. We got through it so fast I don't even have to make that much of an effort to rotate. Yummy cheese! :-)

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  2. Yummo!!!!

    I find that I am of the 'what can I scrounge together that MIGHT make some semblance of a meal' camp. Interesting what I throw together sometimes!

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    1. You can come up with some really good stuff that way!

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