Spinach Bacon Stuffed Chicken

Got hungry and ate a potato

So this is not baking but I did make it from scratch and itis my blog so I will do what I want. Hmmph. As much as I love to bake, I realized I can only do so many baking blogentries a week before I have a whole bakery sitting on my counter. Even thoughI started this blog for baking, I decided I would throw some home cooked mealsin there too to keep it interesting and also to keep me from turning diabetic.

I also enjoy cooking but not nearly as much as baking. Ioften shy away from cooking with meat because I am freak who is unnecessarily paranoidof food-borne illnesses. I think I have taken one too many serve-safe coursesin my restaurant days and think I am going to get trichinosis every time I trya pork chop.  (*Please let me clarifythat I have no problem with eating raw cookie dough though)

I made this dish for Anthony for Valentine’s Day since itseemed easy enough to throw together quickly after  work but pretty and fancy enough to trick himinto thinking I am Cat Cora from Iron Chef.

The whole thing really came out delicious! I alwaysexperiment with new ideas not knowing what to expect. I appreciate theversatility of this dish. I really could have stuffed the chicken withanything. The original recipe did not have bacon inside but I thought it addedflavor to the strong spinach filling. I think a cheesey broccoli bacon fillingwould have been just as delish. I also used Monterey jack cheese in my pieceand pepper jack in Anthony’s piece because I am a baby and he is not.

My only recommendations are that I would have probablyenjoyed breading the chicken in a parmesan /bread crumb crust a little morethan the plain chicken to give it a little extra something. Also- I wish I hadpulled a Paula Deen and cut up a stick of butter for the fingerling potatoes tobrown in.  The dish was not by any meansbland, but there is always room for improvement and that usually entails addingsome caloric intake.

Spinach Bacon Stuffed Chicken Breast with Fingerling Potatoes

INGREDIENTS:

1 (10 ounce) package frozen spinach 1/2 cup sour cream 1/2 cup shredded pepperjack cheese 4 cloves garlic, minced

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - pounded to 1/2 inch thickness 1 pinch ground black pepper 8 slices precooked bacon Fingerling Potatoes

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F
2.	Place spinach in a large glass bowl, and heat in the microwave for 3 minutes, stirring every minute or so, or until unfrozen. Squeeze out the water. Stir in sour cream, pepperjack cheese, and garlic.
3.	Lay the chicken breasts out on a clean surface, and spoon some of the spinach mixture onto each one. Roll up chicken to enclose the spinach mix  and arrange in a shallow baking dish. Surround chicken with fingerling potatoes. Salt and pepper to taste.
4.	Bake uncovered for 35 minutes in the preheated oven