Thursday, March 31, 2011

Feta and Pesto Stuffed Basil Chicken

It's a very descriptive title isn't it?  Lol.
I found this recipe in my 5 Ingredient WeightWatchers Cookbook, and it has quickly become a favorite around here.  The best part?  I modified the recipe to make it SUPEReasy instead of just easy.  The other best part?  Only 5 ingredients!

INGREDIENTS
Chicken Breasts with Rib Meat, approx. 1 pound
Reduced Fat Feta Cheese, 1/2 cup
Basil Pesto, 2 Tablespoons
Black Pepper, 1/4 teaspoon
Dried Basil
 
The first step is to preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
While the oven is preheating, trim the icky stuff--ligaments, fat, that slimy "skin" stuff--off the chicken breasts.  Then, if you're trying to be a good little WeightWatcher like me, trim one of the breasts down to 4 ounces.  Sometimes, if you get three big enough breasts, you can just cut one in half and have two 4 ounce breasts.

Next, measure out 1/2 a cup of feta cheese and place it in a small bowl.  Add 2 Tablespoons of the basil pesto and the 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper.  Using a fork--yes, a fork--mix these all together in the bowl.  I've found that, since the feta cheese is so chunky, the best way to mix these ingredients is the actually smoosh them together using the tines of the fork, only occasionally stirring to fully combine everything.
 
Once the mixture is done, set it aside.  Get a sharp and small knife and cut a slit in the thick part of each chicken breast.  DO NOT cut all the way through the breast, nor cut all the way along the side.  Your goal is to make a pocket in the chicken breast, being careful to avoid puncturing the top or the bottom.  Once the pockets are made, fill each breast with approximately 2 Tablespoons of the feta-pesto-pepper mixture.
 
Now, get a large baking dish and spray it down with Pam.  I prefer Olive Oil Pam myself, but that's because I've only recently discovered how AWESOME Olive Oil is for you, and how yummy it makes food taste!

Once the baking dish is well oiled, place the chicken breasts into the dish, spacing them evenly.  Next, sprinkle the top of each chicken breast with dried basil.  How much you use depends on how much you like basil!  I like it quite a bit, so I used about 1/4 teaspoon on each chicken breast.  That amount gave nice coverage plus great basil flavor and tingle!

The next-to-last step is to pop the dish in the oven, which should have long finished preheating by now.  Bake the chicken breasts for 45 minutes.  I checked on mine at 40 minutes, just to make sure they weren't getting over-done, but they took the full 45 minutes to finish baking and still maintained excellent moisture and flavor!

The very last step is to serve and enjoy!  I served mine with green beans and corn, mostly because that's all I had on hand lol.  I definitely recommend your favorite veggies as sides, and my hubby enjoyed it with a Sierra Nevada Kellerweis!  I hope y'all enjoy it as well!

4 comments:

  1. I love stuffed chicken breasts and I'm always looking for new combinations. And since once of my all-time favorite ingredients is pesto, score! I will definitely give this a try. Here's another recipe I love, although I doubt if it's as calorie friendly as yours ... Bacon Wrapped Boursin Stuffed Chicken Breasts - http://jayayceeblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/pina-colada-kind-of-weekend.html

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  2. Yum! That looks amazing! Thanks so much for sharing! And thanks for the comment too :-).

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  3. I will have to make this one.....or get your Dad to make it-even better.

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