Goat Cheese Stuffed Chicken with Quinoa Stuffed Bell Pepper

I am a BIG fan of stuffing things.

Like saaaayyyyy... my face (for example).

I love stuffing my face with all kinds of delicious goodies.

Here is a recipe I put together for dinner for my fam and it was just delightful.

A perfect food for stuffing my face!

Even though I don't eat chicken, I still have a hard time just sauteing up some boring old chicken and  serving it up to the boys.

I just can't do it.

It's too boring!

It's like, against my religion or something.

So I'm always trying to think of different ways to make it fun and interesting.

I decided to stuff the chicken with some goat cheese and sun dried tomatoes.

It really sounds fancier than it is.

It is so easy to stuff a chicken breast.

I mean, c'mon.

Those breasts are just screaming to be stuffed.

It's like high school all over again.

Or was it junior high?

I can't remember now.

Regardless, this stuffed breast will not disappoint.

And paired with the stuffed bell pepper.

It's a wonderfully balanced meal and a total hit.

Super flavorful and after you assemble everything, you throw it all in the oven and bake it off.

Easy.

Peasy.

And it goes a little something like this...

Goat Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts

2 medium to large chicken breasts, cut in half lengthwise 

4 tablespoons goat cheese

12 julienned pieces of sun dried tomatoes

4 basil leaves

Place the halved chicken breast on a piece of saran wrap.  

Cover it with another piece of saran wrap.

Take a meat mallot or something else you can bang it with, and start pounding out the chicken breast.

Not too hard so you break up the meat, but hard enough to start thinning it out.

When the chicken is nice and thin, put it to the side and season with salt and pepper.

Continue the same process with the remaining breasts.

To stuff them...

Lay out one breast.  Spread the goat cheese onto the lower middle section of the breast and top with a basil leaf.  Add 2-3 sun dried tomatoes slices on top of the basil. 

Roll the chicken breast up and away from you and tuck in the sides so the goat cheese doesn't spill out when you bake it.

It doesn't have to be perfect, but try and tuck the breast all under itself so there is no visibility of the filling.

Bake it at 400 for about 20 minutes, depending on your oven.

It's seriously some good eats!

Quinoa Stuffed Bell Pepper

2 Bell Peppers, preferably red, yellow or orange, cut lengthwise in half, seeded

2 cups quinoa, cooked 

1 lb. chopped mushrooms, cooked

1 medium onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 carrot, shredded

1 teaspoon allspice

2 cups chopped spinach, frozen, squeezed and drained
1 cup parmesan reggiano

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
1 large beefsteak tomato, sliced
3/4 cup veggie or chicken broth

In a medium saute pan over medium high heat, heat 4 tablespoon olive oil and toss in the chopped onion.  Salt and pepper. 

Move that around for about 4 minutes.  Add the shredded carrots.  Salt and pepper.  Saute for 2 minutes.  Add in the allspice and chopped mushrooms.  Salt and pepper them.

Saute for about 7 minutes on medium high heat.  Toss in the garlic.  Saute for about 3 minutes more.

Put the spinach in there and give it a final couple minute toss around.

Put the entire mixture into a large bowl and let cool.  Add in the quinoa and chopped herbs and mix thoroughly.  If you want you can add any cheese you like at this point.  I added about 1/2 cup of parmesan reggiano to the mix.

Put the split and seeded bell peppers onto a baking sheet and coat them with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Stuff them with the quinoa mixture and top them with remaining parmesan cheese.
Put the sliced tomatoes on the baking sheet and place the bell peppers on top of each tomato slice.
Add about a 1/2-3/4 cup of veggie broth (or chicken broth) and cover with foil.
Let bake at 425 covered, for about 20 minutes.
Uncover and let bake an additional 5-10 minutes, until the peppers are roasted and softened. 

Serve with the stuffed chicken breast and VOILA!! 

A delicious and healthy dinner for your loved peeps.

Enjoy!!

We sure did.

Disclaimer:
The lighting for these pictures was HORRIBLE.
I know.
I'm still learning.
Everyday.
Trying to figure out how to get pretty pictures.
This one was a fail.
And I'm aware.
But I will keep on keeping on and hopefully my pictures will get better and prettier!