Dinner for Two: Stuffed Chicken

Let me start this post for apologizing for my lack of picture. Dinner wasn't ready until almost 8 o'clock last night so I didn't even give this dish enough time to cool before eating it, never mind stop to take a picture of it. I promise I will update this with a picture the next time I make it. And yes, I will definitely be making it again.

This recipe came about in a couple different ways. The first was that my mom recommended I start including recipes for people like myself, who only have 1-2 people to feed, and aren't interested in always having leftovers. I had exactly two chicken breasts and thought this was a good way to listen to my mama! Also, I have been DYING to try stuffing my chicken with a spinach and artichoke stuffing. Slight problem, Jon was hungry too and Jon doesn't like spinach or artichokes. I kept on truckin' and decided to do one stuffed chicken breast with spinach and artichoke and the other with a simple ricotta stuffing. Doesn't this sound like my feta-licious post? Yeah, he's obnoxious! :oP

The good part was both recipes start with the exact same ingredients,. So with the spinach-artichoke, I just added the two main ingredients- spinach and artichoke. I'm going to include both recipes as 2 servings. If you have a house like me, and want to do one of each, just start with the ricotta base and add in half the called for amount of spinach and artichoke on the second bird. I hope that made sense. If it didn't, email me- cookingwithcait@gmail.com

Ricotta Stuffed Chicken

2 chicken breasts, butterflied and pounded (between parchment paper) to 1/4-1/2 inch thick
1 cup ricotta
1/2 cup cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella, reserve some for topping
1/4 cup romano, grated
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1 clove garlic, minced or grated
1 tbsp parsley
1 egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover bottom of baking dish with marinara or cooking spray to avoid sticking. Combine ricotta and cream cheese until smooth and well combined. Add in mozzarella, romano parmesan cheese, garlic, parsley and egg. Fill chicken as desired and then wrap chicken around filling. Use wooden toothpick to secure if need be. Place in baking dish, sprinkle with reserved mozzarella, cover with foil and bake for 40-45 minutes.


Spinach and Artichoke Stuffed Chicken

2 chicken breasts, butterflied and pounded (between parchment paper) to 1/4-1/2 inch thick
1 cup ricotta
1/2 cup cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella, reserve some for topping
1/4 cup romano, grated
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1 clove garlic, minced or grated
1 tbsp parsley
1 cup spinach, coarsley chopped
1/2 cup artichoke hearts, coarsely chopped
1 egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover bottom of baking dish with cooking spray to avoid sticking. Combine ricotta and cream cheese until smooth and well combined. Add in mozzarella, romano parmesan cheese, garlic, parsley, spinach, artichoke and egg. Fill chicken as desired and then wrap chicken around filling. Use wooden toothpick to secure if need be. Place in baking dish, sprinkle with reserved mozzarella, cover with foil and bake for 40-45 minutes.

Spinach-Artichoke Dip

Aloha Kakahiaka! (Good Morning)

It is early in the morning, or late in the night depending how you look at it. It is 6:38am here in beautiful Hawaii and I still have not gone to sleep. I decided to take some excedrin migraine which has caffeine in it, at 10pm. Sooooo I stayed up all night watching old episodes of Big Brother. After I got bored with that, I decided to be productive with my time and write out another of my favorite recipes, Spinach-Artichoke Dip. This dip is something I always order at restaurants and something I've always found myself critiquing. I loooove cheese and I always felt that the dips needed more cheese and more salt. So I researched online and failed a lot experimenting, but finally came up with a dip that I like to serve with bagel chips or tortilla chips. Unless my friends are terrific actors, this dip is always well received at parties.

As usual, please send me some feedback since anyone besides my friends is impartial and I'd love to get some unbiased opinions :) cookingwithcait@gmail.com

Spinach-Artichoke Dip

1 12oz jar of quartered and marinated artichoke hearts

1 cup coarsley chopped spinach
1 tsp. salt
2 cloves minced or grated garlic
1 cup light mayonnaise
1/2 cup softened cream cheese
1 cup finely shredded low moisture part skim mozarella cheese
1/4 cup shredded 3 cheese blend (Parmesan, asiago, romano)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use cooking spray to lighty grease 8x8 baking dish. Coarsley chop spinach and artichoke hearts. Mix all ingredients in bowl. Pour into prepared dish. Sprinkle extra shredded mozarella on top. Bake 15-20 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and golden brown.

Calorie Count: 12 servings at 176 calories (does not include serving chips)

I'm going to be serving this dip at a party this weekend so I will definitely come back and post a picture or two so you all can enjoy the tastiness with your eyes before you try out the recipe! :)

Please excuse any craziness this blog may contain, my thoughts are jumbled due to lack of sleep. Love you all <3 xoxo