Special Occasion Stuffed Chicken

I usually post easy meals that are pretty quick to throw together. This dish is NOT one of those, haha, but if you want to impress your husband, birthday dinner, or anniversary dinner. This is fun and special. YOU CAN MAKE THIS! Because if I can, you can!! 🙂 My husband and I did this one together. We love cooking together in the kitchen! It’s fun and romantic, as crazy as that sounds. We get to flirt a lot making dinner, haha! You can also throw this on the grill instead of baking it and that might just work out better! This meal would be an S meal following Trim Healthy Mama!

Start by pounding your butterflied (which means: just cut your chicken breasts in half lengthwise, but not completely, spread open like a butterfly) chicken breasts really flat! The flatter the better! Also, we covered the breasts with plastic wrap so the chicken didn’t fly all over the place! My husband did this part… he’s so strong! 😉

On the stove, cook chopped bacon (I use HEB’s Applewood Bacon, it’s all natural without all the nitrates, etc in it. It tastes wonderful and doesn’t make you feel sick.). Let the bacon cook up a little bit then add chopped mushrooms and spinach.

Once your chicken is flattened, spread it out on a pan and get it ready for the cheese and stuffing.

While my husband worked on that part, I chopped up some garlic cloves to make a DELICIOUS GARLIC CILANTRO LIME BUTTER!!!! Add the cloves to melting butter in a sauce pan. Allow to cook until the garlic is translucent.

The bacon and veggies should be ready to stuff in the chicken. Season the chicken according to your taste.

Once stuffed, roll and tie. This can be a fun two person job! 😉

We placed then on a metal cooling wrack on a cookie sheet and then in the oven.

Bake then up and finish the butter sauce.

ALLOW THEM TO REST AT LEAST 5 or so minutes!

Slice it up and serve it with your favorite side.

We served ours with roasted veggies and a drizzle of the Garlic Cilantro Lime Butter Sauce (which I blended up with my emulsion blender, you could use a regular blender too)! ENJOY!

SPECIAL OCCASION STUFFED CHICKEN
BY Sarah Criddle
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Ingredients:

Chicken & Stuffing
2 to 4 chicken breasts cut on the side lengthwise but NOT all the way through to butterfly it
1/2 pound of good bacon chopped
2 cups of sliced mushrooms
4 cups of baby spinach
Spices
8 to 10 slices of your favorite cheese or you could use shredded cheese sprinkled on (We used Monterrey Jack Cheese)

Garlic Cilantro Lime Butter
1 stick of good unsalted butter
3 to 4 cloves of garlic
a handful of washed cilantro
1/2 a lime squeezed
salt

Directions:

Pound the chicken breasts well until very thin and flat. Go ahead and cut up string to tie your chicken up 3 to 4 strings a breast. Chop the mushrooms and bacon. Begin cooking the bacon in a pan. Once the bacon is cooked, you can pour off some of the fat or use it. Add the mushrooms and spinach and stir. Don’t add salt or spices to the veggies because the bacon is salty and more salt will draw the water out of the mushrooms and spinach. You might even need to pour some of the liquid that collects out. Lay or sprinkle cheese on the breasts. Add your stuffing to the chicken and then sprinkle with your favorite seasonings (we love Cajun or Mexican). Roll up and tie. Sprinkle the outside of chicken with seasoning and place on a cookie sheet or baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until done (if the chicken is flattened thin enough, 45 minutes should do it. If not continue cooking for another 15 minutes). Also, you could grill these up. While the chicken is cooking melt a stick of butter in a sauce pan. Add your chopped garlic cloves and salt. Allow to cook until the garlic is translucent. Add your cilantro and lime juice. Blend this up! YUM! Once the chicken is cooked through allow the chicken to rest for at least 5 minutes. Slice it up, place on a plate with your favorite side and drizzle your Garlic Cilantro Lime Butter over the top! A very elegant RICH dish for a special occasion! YOU CAN MAKE THIS!!! 🙂