Farmer's Market Foodie: Stuffed Chicken Breast

  I am always trying to think of creative ways to cook chicken breast, which has become a staple for me since I began living on my own. Rather than sautéing the chicken breast, I decided to bake them. Often baked chicken breast can turn out a bit dry; to combat this I like to stuff the chicken breast with fresh ingredients to add extra flavor and avoid the bland, over-cooked, baked chicken breast. For my recipe, I used spinach and chives that I picked up from the Saturday morning Bellingham Farmers Market. I bought the mushrooms, seasonings and feta cheese from the grocery store. The recipe was just something I threw together and can be tweaked depending on preference. Although, for any stuffing, I recommend having a variety of vegetables and some sort of cheese to act as a glue to holds the filling together. Stuffed Chicken Breast Ingredients: About 2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breast 1 cup of crumbled feta cheese ½ cup of white mushrooms ¼ cup of chopped chives ½ teaspoon of thyme ½ teaspoon of oregano ½ teaspoon of basil ½ teaspoon of rosemary ½ teaspoon of spinach 2 tablespoons of olive oil ½ cup of spinach Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a small bowl combine mushrooms, feta cheese, spinach and chives to create the filling.
3. Cut each breast in half.
4. With a small knife make an incision in each piece of chicken breast big enough to fill with the cheese, spinach, chives and mushrooms.
5. With a small spoon, or your hand, stuff each piece of chicken with the filling. This may be a bit of a challenge, but add as much filling to each breast as possible.
6. Coat a 9 inch by 13 inch glass baking dish with olive oil and place the stuffed chicken in the pan.
7. Lightly drizzle the tops of the chicken breast with olive oil and sprinkle the seasonings over them. Make sure to flip the chicken over to season both sides.
8. Cook chicken breasts at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes, then flip them over in order to brown on both sides.
9. Cook for another 10 minutes or until the chicken breasts reaches 165 degrees (fully cooked).