Florentine Stuffed Chicken Breasts

When I was a teenager I worked at this restaurant and they served this dish called

"Chicken Florentine"

I had never had it before so I tried it and let me just say it was just 

INSANELY delicious

I don't know about you other cooks and wives out there, but I get in food ruts

We get into a groove where we eat the same things every week

And so my husband started asking if I would make something different

I have no problem trying new things, 

in fact, I quite enjoy it, but it's always a little daunting.

Anyway, I realized I had all the stuff to make a version of Chicken Florentine

So I pulled up trusty ol' Allrecipes.com (<--freakin' awesome, btw)

and started searching....

To little avail...

I was pretty bummed 

So I said to myself, "Self, You can totes invent your own recipe"

So I listened to my advice and decided to compile some of the different recipes I did find and make my own

When I made this for my husband he chowed it down, I mean, 

I BLINKED and it was long gone.  

He couldn't stop eating it.  

So, that's when I knew I was onto something.

I wrote down my recipe as I went

{AND added up all the calories for my fellow counters out there. you're welcome.}

And here is what we have...

Florentine Stuffed Chicken Breasts

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 to 1   ½ cups Marinara (red) sauce, divided

¾ cups Feta cheese

¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

1/3 cup reduced fat sour cream

1 package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

Sundried tomatoes, chopped {I like a lot of them, I used a little more than half a bag}

1 tsp minced garlic

½ of medium onion, diced

Garlic Salt to Taste {I use TONS so I am leaving this to your discretion in case you aren’t a garlicoholic like us}

1.     Preheat oven to 350.

2.     Grease a 13 X 9 pan and spread about half of the sauce in the bottom of the pan.  Set aside.

3.     Combine Feta, Parmesan, sour cream, spinach, sundried tomatoes, minced garlic, Garlic salt and onion in a medium-large mixing bowl.  Combine thoroughly.  Mixture will be thick.  {You can add more sour cream or a couple Tbsp of milk to make it less so, but you don't want it thin}

4.     Rinse and pat dry your chicken breasts and cut them about 2/3 the way through on the long side.  Open and stuff ¼ of cheese and spinach mixture in each chicken breast. Close the chicken breasts back and place in the pan on top of the sauce.

5.     Pour/drizzle or spread remaining red sauce over top of chicken. 

6.     Cover pan with foil, and place in preheated oven.  Cook for 45 minutes. {cut into chicken to be sure it’s done throughout}  Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving. 

{By my math using the portions above, each chicken breast will be approximately 265 calories}

Sauce spread out in the bottom of the pan

I could eat this stuff with a spoon just like this, it is so good!

I saved just a little of the spinach mixture to smear on the top just to look pretty before cooking

Cut into the thickest part of the chicken in the center to be sure it's cooked through

fresh out of the oven.  Remove the foil from the pan to help it cool faster

the thicker consistency of the filling keeps it from spilling out into the pan too much

This was such a delicious dinner and with the Florentine mixture inside the breast, the meat stays so nice and moist.  

Please feel free to comment with any questions or just to tell me what you think!  

{be sure you aren't a no reply blogger though}