Stuffing and Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 String Cheese sticks
1 box, Twin-pack (2, 6 ounce packets) Cornbread Stuffing Mix, Mrs. Cubbison's
1 can Cream of Celery soup
2 eggs, divided
1/4 cup milk
Dash Louisiana hot sauce
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Working with one chicken breast at a time, place into a gallon-size zip bag, leaving baggy unzipped, pound meat out with smooth side of a meat mallet to approximately double width (about 5" x 7" x 1/4") rectangle. Remove flattened breast from bag and place on plate. Top with wax paper. Repeat process with remaining three breasts. Set aside.


Pour one of the 6 ounce bags of stuffing mix into a clean gallon-size ziploc bag. With rolling pin or smooth side of meat mallet, smash stuffing mix into crumbs. Pour into low flat bowl and set aside.

In another low flat bowl, combine milk and one egg, with one dash of hot sauce. Whisk to combine and set aside.

Place cream of celery soup (undiluted) into a medium-size, microwave safe bowl. Nuke until heated through. Add contents of second 6 ounce bag stuffing mix and one slightly beaten egg to the heated soup and stir until well combined. Divide stuffing mixture into fourths. With hands, pack one-fourth of the stuffing around one string cheese. Place stuffing encased cheese on short end of flattened chicken breast and roll into tube shape. Repeat with remaining cheese, stuffing and chicken.

Dip stuffed chicken rolls into milk/egg mixture and roll in stuffing bread crumbs. Meanwhile, heat olive oil and butter in large skillet. Place stuffed chicken rolls in hot skillet and bake approximately 3 minutes, give a quarter turn and bake another 3 minutes, repeat until all four sides are browned. Spray small casserole dish with non-stick spray and place browned stuffed chicken rolls into casserole dish. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes. Let set 5 minutes before cutting - then cut into thirds or fourths and fan out a single roll onto a plate or all four onto a platter.

This is a simple dish to prepare but it is also company worthy in that is looks fairly elegant when you cut the rolls open to expose the lovely swirls of layers and oozing cheese. The crunchy outer coating really makes this dish stand well on it's own (as in without gravy).

Tonight I served this dish with a side of scored new potatoes (recipe to follow) and some steamed broccoli. Since it is just the two of us we have two rolls leftover. I'm thinking tomorrow night I'll slice the stuffed rolls into 1/2 inch slices and serve on sourdough bread with cranberry sauce and cream cheese - should make GREAT sandwiches!

Crispy Scored New Potatoes

1 pound new potatoes
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt and coarse ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 350-degrees.

Cut each new potato in half. Score hashmarks just slightly into cut side of each half. Place in a single layer in a large roasting pan. Toss with salt, pepper and oil. Turn each half so that cut/scored side is up.

Bake for 30 minutes. Turn each half cut side down and continue to bake for aproximately 15 minutes more or until cut sides of potatoes are golden brown. These are so tasty they don't need butter or further seasoning.