A fun weekend [Recipe: Spinach Stuffed Chicken]

Well, it's Monday, which means back to work! Today I got a lot done. I sorted a bunch of laundry, I cleaned, made a mess, and re-cleaned the kitchen, and I got a bunch of lesson planning and such done. I also arranged something for my little orchestra at Regents. This Friday night, the orchestra is playing for the school's talent show during intermission. We just started all our new music, so it will be a little rough, but it will still be fun! The principle and his wife want their son to take violin lessons from me, so she and I are meeting this week to discuss lessons. I think I may teach him at Regents right after orchestra, since they have to stay there until 4pm anyways.

This weekend was great. Friday night, we had Danica, Jason, Danica's sister Bethany, Kayla & Daniel over. It was fun spending time with Danica's sister, and we thought that it would be a fun thing to do while she was in town. We have gotten to know our [relatively new] friends, Kayla & Daniel through a few different things, such as a Bible study we were in last semester, and Kayla & Danica are my Curves workout buddies. We hung out a bit in the Grove too, so over time, we have gotten to know them. They're a lot of fun. They are getting married in June, and I am playing in her wedding in Brookhaven.

Sunday night, we went over to Aaron & Kelly's house for a fun Superbowl party. There were other law school people there as well, and it was fun hanging out and eating lots of delicious food. They were very good hosts and everyone enjoyed themselves. I brought Knorr dip and a football field cake. I love decorating cakes! I may not be very good at it, but I love anything to do with painting or decorating cakes. It's so much fun for me, and quite relaxing! I would love decorating cakes for a living, but I don't think I would make as much as I do teaching violin :-) Probably not the most profitable living around here.

Recipe of the day: Spinach Stuffed Chicken (I halved this recipe & it was still too much for Madison & I to eat)

It was funny, I went online to find a recipe that I could use a half of a bag of fresh spinach, some bacon, chicken, and sour cream (because these were all things I had to buy for our get-togethers this weekend) and I found this amazing recipe! I will definitely be making this again.

(note: this is not the halved recipe)
INGREDIENTS:
1 (10 oz) package fresh spinach leaves
1/2 cup lowfat or regular sour cream
1/2 cup shredded mozzerella
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - pounded to 1/2 inch thickness
1 pinch ground black pepper
1 pinch chili pepper
8 strips turkey bacon or regular bacon (uncooked)

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 wilted.

3. Stir in sour cream, cheese, garlic, black pepper, and chili powder.


4. Pound chicken breasts to 1/2 inch thickness. (I put saran wrap on the chicken so the gross chicken juice doesn't spray everywhere!)



5. Lay the chicken breasts out on a clean surface, and spoon some of the spinach mixture onto each one.


6. Roll up chicken to enclose the spinach, then wrap each chicken breast with two slices of bacon. Secure with toothpicks, and arrange in a shallow baking dish. (I did not have toothpicks, hence the crazy skewer sticks!)


7. Bake uncovered for 35 minutes in the preheated oven, then increase heat to 500 degrees F, or use the oven's broiler to cook for an additional 5 to 10 minutes to brown the bacon.



I took the bacon off (we are watching our fat intake) but it didn't necessarily say that you can't eat it. I also only like extra crispy bacon. It keeps the chicken nice & moist, and gives it just the slightest hint of bacon taste. mm!
I highly recommend this recipe! We were going to make it this weekend as a special treat, then we realized we were busy all weekend, so I decided to make it tonight. It's relatively low-fat and really tasty!