Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Chelsea's Italian-Style Stuffed Chicken Breast

As I was growing up I started to resent chicken because my mom, bless her heart, was so busy between taking care of 4 kids and also working part-time that she tended to make chicken the same exact way about 4-5 nights a week.

Baked with salt and pepper.

As I started growing up I would do anything to avoid buying or making chicken because I was stuck in that baked salt and pepper chicken mindset that seemed to have scarred my taste buds from poultry all together.

Once I moved out on my own I started experimenting with recipes and tastes that I found appealing and shortly after realized that there are SO many different and delicious ways to cook chicken and upon trying new ideas one that has become a favorite for my family and friends is my personal spin on an 'Italian style' chicken breast.

-Chelsea's Italian Chicken-

(Chef's Note) I usually feed 4-5 people so this is the recipe serves 4-5,
You can cut it in half or double as much as needed.

Ingredients:
5 boneless skinless chicken breasts
16 oz of whipped cream cheese
2 full packs of fresh basil (or about 15-20 fresh basil leaves off plant)
Italian parsley
Garlic salt&pepper
Olive oil
4 Roma tomatoes
Parmesan cheese (either finely grated or powdered Parmesan in plastic jar works too when on a budget)

Food processor, blender, or mixing bullet...if you don't have any of those you will need to mince the basil and parsley as fine as you possibly can but for best results and texture you will want to use one of the above blending methods

- Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Instructions
- Mix cream cheese, basil and 1/2 head of Italian parsley in food processor and start blending on "high"

- While blending pour in about 1/4cup of olive oil.

- Let blend for about 2-5 minutes until mixture starts to turn green, then add 1 teaspoon of garlic salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper

- Also add 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese and keep blending.  Once completely blended, mix should be a light green and smell like pesto mix should also have no large chunks of parsley or basil

- Set aside blended stuffing mixture.

- Take chicken breasts and carefully cut through center in middle to make pockets for "stuffing"

- Generously stuff each chicken pocket with your Italian basil cream stuffing, reserving some of the stuffing. Flip top of chicken over so they are secure and stuffed full

- Cut each tomato into 4-5 slices and put one layer of pieces of tomato all over each piece of chicken,
4-5 slices on each breast,

- Lightly pour a little bit of olive oil over tomatoes then cover tomatoes with more Parmesan cheese.

- Stick chicken in glass baking pan, and cook in oven and for about 45 minutes until stuffing is bubbling and starting to flow from the chicken, I always cut into one piece to make sure there in no pink since sizes of breasts.  Oven temperatures always vary:)

- When done, the Tomatoes with Parmesan on top should be slightly crisp and lightly browned.

- Serve on plate and don't forget to add an extra dollop of the Italian cream stuffing on each plate for extra dipping.  People love it when you leave some of your cream stuffing left over to individually put on each plate for extra dipping and taste.

Last but certainly not least...ENJOY! :)


Shared with:
~ Centerpiece Wednesday, Fluster's Creative Muster, Fresh Foods Wednesday, From Dream to Reality, Gluten-Free Wednesday, Hit Me With Your Best Shot, Homemaking Link-Up, Homemaking PartyThe Inspiration BoardMoonlight & Mason Jars, Penny Pinching PartyProject Parade, Real Food Wednesday, Show + Tell, Wednesday Round Up, Wednesday Whatsits, Wellness Wednesday, What's Cooking Wednesday, What's It Wednesday, Whatever Goes Wednesday, Whimsy Wednesday, Wicked Awesome Wednesday, Wine'd Down Wednesday, Wonderful Wednesday, Wonderfully Creative Wednesday, Work It Wednesday, Works For Me Wednesday, Wow Me Wednesday, Wow Us Wednesday, Your Whims Wednesday
~ Creative Ways Link Party, Full Plate Thursday, Home & Garden Thursday, HomeAcre Hop, It's A Party, Share Your Cup Thursday, Showcase Your TalentThrifty Thursday.
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17 comments:

  1. This looks delish! Can't wait to give it a try.

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  2. Yum! I have just a little bit of pesto sitting around and I was wondering what to do with it! I think I will mix it with the cream cheese and follow the rest of your directions! Thanks!

    Found you on Foodie Friday!

    Trisha @ Home Sweet Homemade

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  3. I love this recipe and I love chicken. Never ate chicken breast stuffed with cream cheese but it sure does sound tasty. Thanks for sharing on Real Food Fridays Twitted & pinned.

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  4. Oh my, this looks amazing! I am putting this on the menu for next week! Thank you!
    I would love if you would share these at Celebrate It! It’s the blog party that celebrates the everyday things that we do! http://thefreshmancook.blogspot.com/2014/10/celebrate-it-blog-party-13.html

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  5. G'day! Looks yum and thanks for sharing at our #SayGdayParty
    Please make sure to revisit if you haven't already to Say G'day to the hosts and another person at the party!
    Cheers! Joanne @ What's On The List Pinned

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  6. I can relate to your mom. When you are overwhelmed and super busy, meals become streamlined for survival sake. When I was first married I could not cook to save my life. After a few weeks of repeats I decided to add one new dinner recipe a month into my cooking arsenal. Cooking new recipes can be expensive, and I wanted to be wise with our limited budget. Fast forward 25 years I have quite a collection. Your chicken recipe looks delicious. I am anxious to try it soon!

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  7. I love chicken and this recipe is delicious! Thanks for coming and linking up at The Weekend Social. All posts get pinned in our pinterest board! Please be sure to come back next week starting Thursdays at 9PM EST on culinaryflavors.gr ! I hope to see you there!

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  8. Your Italian Style Stuffed Chicken looks fantastic. Thanks so much for sharing this awesome post with Full Plate Thursday and have a great day.
    Come Back Soon!
    Miz Helen

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  9. Hey there Chelsea,

    I found your post on the Mommy Monday blog hop. It's nice to meet you. :)

    Thanks for sharing this recipe with us. I am definitely bookmarking this one. Hope you had a great Monday!

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  10. Very interesting Chicken recipe with cream cheese. I can't wait to try it. Thank you for sharing with the Clever Chicks Blog Hop! I hope you’ll join us again next week!

    Cheers,
    Kathy Shea Mormino
    The Chicken Chick
    http://www.The-Chicken-Chick.com

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  11. Sounds super yummy! I still have some fresh basil in the garden that needs harvested. Thanks for sharing with SYC.
    hugs,
    Jann

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  12. This sounds yummy! I do appreciate you sharing with Home and Garden Thursday,
    Kathy

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  13. 4 kids in my family and my mom worked part time too... lots of chicken cutlets. Pinned this recipe. Thanks for bringing this to Weekend Bites.

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  14. Beautiful! looks so nice and sounds delish! i love basil and tomatoes so fresh and the flavours go so well.
    Thank you so much for sharing with us for Sunday Brunch x
    I also love the little Halloween theme change there xx

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  15. Delicious and perfect for low-carbers like me! Thanks for linking up to #tastytuesdays

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  16. Delicious and healthy, thanks for sharing with Hearth and soul blog hop. pinning.

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  17. thanks for the post we are serving london with the best quality lamb neck have a look on or site

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