Goat Cheese Stuffed Chicken

I was looking at the goat cheese in my fridge last week and I got a hankering to cook up some yummy goodness with it. After a little bit of thought, I decided to make some stuffed chicken breasts. This recipe requires a moderate amount of work but not as much as you might think. It will give you a gourmet looking meal right at home.

Goat Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup red onion, finely diced
1/4 red pepper, finely diced
4 oz fresh mushrooms, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 package frozen spinach, thawed
Salt
Pepper
1/3 cup goat cheese**
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup bread crumbs
2 T Parmesan cheese
Salt
Pepper

**If for some absurd reason you are not a fan of goat cheese, you could substitute cream cheese.

Saute mushrooms, onions, red pepper and garlic until soft.

Add spinach, salt and pepper. Continue saute for 2-3 minutes.

Transfer to small bowl and add goat cheese.

Mix until goat cheese is melted and well combined. Set aside.

Place chicken breasts, one at a time in between plastic wrap or in a ziploc bag and flatten. I need to take a course in flattening chicken. I mutilated these poor guys.

Add a heaping spoonful of the mixture along the center of the chicken breast.

Roll up and secure with toothpicks. Don't worry if some filling leaks out (like in the photo below). The breading will help keep it in.

Prepare your breading station. Place beaten egg in one bowl and combine bread crumbs, parm, and pepper in another bowl.

Dip chicken breast in the egg and then into the bread crumbs. Coat completely. Place in glass baking dish.

Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes until chicken is no longer pink and an internal temperature of 165 is reached.

Makes 4 servings.