I love this time of the year. The days are sunny and beautiful and in the evening it cools right down. This is a perfect evening meal for those cooler evenings and pairs so well with the Chaga Chai Tea. SO DELICIOUS and healthy.
INGREDIENTS
2 Skinless Chicken Breasts
2 cups of Baby Spinach Leaves
1 or 2 Garlic Cloves smashed and sliced thinly
¾ cups low fat Cream Cheese
1 tbsp of Chaga/Chai tea (approximately 1 tea bag)
2 tbsp of Margarine
Pinch of Salt and Pepper
10 slices of Bacon
DIRECTIONS
In a frying pan on medium high heat, melt 1 tbsp of margarine and add the garlic. Let it simmer until you smell the garlic (1 to 2 minutes). Lower the heat and then add the spinach. Sweat this down (1 to 2 minutes) and remove from the heat to let cool slightly.
In a bowl, add cream cheese and Chaga/chai tea. Mix these together until everything is incorporated. Add the warm spinach plus the remaining melted margarine (it needs to still be warm as this will help release the chaga goodness). Let sit for 10 to 15 minutes.
Slice your Chicken breast lengthwise and fold open. Place chicken pieces between 2 pieces of parchment paper (top and bottom) and use a rolling pin for something heavy enough to pound the chicken slices into an even ¼ to ½ inch thickness. The thinner they are the quicker they will cook.
Place the Chaga cheese mixture along the center lengthwise. Wrap the chicken around the cheese to form a neat little package. At this point you may wish to fasten the packages with toothpicks or tie string around then to hold them in place.
Wrap these packages with bacon slices and place in a medium high heat frying pan (the one you used to sweat the spinach would be great because it still has a little margarine remaining). Sear the chicken on all sides until golden and the bacon has cooked.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use 2 spatulas pick up the seared chicken packages and place in a shallow baking dish. Leave the dish uncovered. I cut up baby potatoes and put into the baking dish to cook with the chicken.
Let cook for approximate 30 minutes or until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 160. Once you reach this temperature, remove from the oven cover with tinfoil and let sit for 10 to 15 minutes to let the hot juices settle. This keeps the chicken from drying out.
I placed the chicken package on a bed of fried mushroom and added leftover Chaga gravy (another quick recipe coming soon). Coupled that with fresh garden yellow and green beans and the oven baked potatoes. Yum… It doesn't get much better than that on a chilly fall evening.
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