Monterrey –I’m stuffed—Chicken!

Monterrey –I’m stuffed—Chicken!

Wednesday, I was browsing through pinned recipes on a few Pinterest boards… shocking, I know…. and came across this blog (All Things Simple).   The food looked scrumptious!  My mouth was watering just glancing at the screen.  I had already pulled out some chicken for dinner; all I needed was a ‘new’ recipe to go with it!  The further I read about her Family classics the more it convinced me.  I changed a few things but the method is entirely up to you.  So what is it you ask?  Well (Wednesday night) dinner is …. Drum roll please!  Mozzarella stuffed Monterrey Chicken Breast with Coconut oil infused Sweet Potatoes.

I didn’t take a lot of pictures during the cooking process because honestly I didn’t know how it would turn out and wanted my execution a success before my camera got caught in an unlikely crossfire. 

Look how deliciously juicy and scrumptious this is!  Click HERE to Print

Mozzarella stuffed Monterrey Chicken

4- boneless, skinless chicken breast

¼ cup BBQ sauce

¼ cup real bacon bits (package or real bacon)

1 cup Colby and Jack shredded cheese

1 - 14oz. can of Rotel tomatoes, drained

Sliced green onions

Montreal steak seasoning (which is basically salt, pepper, garlic)

Mozzarella cheese (I use the cheese sticks, I had them on hand)

coconut oil (or butter or olive oil)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Prep chicken by rinsing and pat dry with a paper towel. Cut any fat or bristle left on the breast off.  You can cut the breast one of two ways.  Butterfly it to stuff the Mozzarella cheese in it, or what I chose to do since my breast where rather small.  Make a cut along the top of the breast down towards the bottom, but not slicing completely through.  Make another cut inside that cut, but along the side of the cut.  I know this doesn’t really make sense without visual aids, but just improvise, that is what I did ;-)  ((I will make an update once we have this again for dinner, and make sure to document every step))   

Put Foil in a baking dish, for easy clean up,  and brush each breast and bottom of pan with coconut oil.  ( you can use olive oil or butter, I am just trying to eat healthier).  Stuff the breast with Mozzarella Cheese.  Season the breast with the Steak seasoning, Cover with foil and cook on 400 degrees until no longer pink.  Approx 30 minutes. 

Once the chicken is done, pour out some of the juices.  Then top each chicken breast with the following 1 tbsp of BBQ sauce, ¼ cup cheese, ¼ cup Rotel tomatoes, green onions and 1 tbsp of bacon bits.  Place back in the oven uncovered until cheese is melted, about 5 minutes.  Pull out of oven and Enjoy all the goodness.

Now for those incredible Sweet Potatoes!  

I wish you could lick the screen to know just how AMAZING these are!!!!  Click HERE to print

Sweet Potatoes infused with coconut oil

Ingredients:

8 medium sweet potatoes (5 lbs.) or one per person

Coconut oil (or butter or olive oil)

Kosher or sea salt

2 Tbsp cold Butter, cut into small pieces

2 Tbsp. light brown sugar

1/3 cup pecan pieces (optional: I didn’t add this on hand)

1/8 tsp Cayenne pepper

First things first, preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Wash and peel potatoes.  Cut the potatoes length wise, then cut the potato into  ½ inch slices.  Lay slices out onto 2 cookie sheets.  Melt some coconut oil and brush each side with the oil.  You could also just toss these with some coconut oil then place on sheet, whichever you prefer.  Season lightly with salt.

Cook both sheets until potatoes are tender, tossing the potatoes half way.  25-30 minutes.

While waiting on the potatoes to cook, combine butter (or more coconut oil) brown sugar, pecan pieces and cayenne pepper in a bowl.  Once potatoes are done. Sprinkle evenly on top of sweet potatoes.  Bake until the sugar is caramelized and crunchy, approx. 10 minutes.  Toss gently, then serve immediately, granted you can wait that long ;-)

I hope that all of you can test out these recipes and Please share your results and modifications to them.  I love to read feedback!  Till next time.  Keep Striving Towards Virtue!  (update on Blog name change coming soon)

Laura