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stuffed chicken
The Effects That Pinterest Can Have Part 1
9:00 PM
The reason I call this post part one is because, for sure, there
will be many more Pinterest adventures to come. I'm sure of this month.
Recently I've gotten addicted to Pinterest. Between doing homework, writing
papers, and studying for finals...sometimes my brain just takes a huge fart.
Pinterest is a nice escape from that. Mindless re-pinning of anything that pops
up that may be interesting? Sign me up, please. I'll admit that I first got a
Pinterest account this past summer of 2014 because I wanted to see all those
spiffy apartment organization and small space organization ideas—and to also
keep track of places I'd like to travel in the future. Then, after I moved into
my apartment...well, I kind of forgot about it. However, sometimes tumblr can
get a little intense when
it comes to anything mindless. I can't really go on tumblr any longer to just
mindlessly reblog things—which is why I have recently turned to Pinterest.
I somehow managed to acquire twenty four
boards, when I barely even wanted just one to start with. As with many pinners, one of those
boards happens to be a recipe board—except I have mine all split into
sub-categories depending on whether or not it's a baking, drink, or food
recipe. But I won't go into that too much. One of the recipes I recently pinned
within this last week or so was a recipe for stuffed chicken, and did it look
delicious! It was easy enough, too, that I figured I could make it on my own.
Something that I absolutely love about Pinterest is everyone's simplicity.
Unfortunately, this recipe called for quite a few things I don't always have
around the house. On top of it, my boyfriend and I are both on a college
budget. Another thing is I'm not a super fancy-shmancy cook. Recipes call for a
specific amount of what you
say? I'm just going to eyeball it depending on my own and my boyfriend's taste
buds and hope it turns out well.
Lucky me most of my food always turns out well.
Anyway, the original recipe, Roasted Red Pepper, Mozzarella, and Basil Stuffed
Chicken, went something like this:
Ingredients:4 boneless skinless chicken breasts8 ounces fresh mozzarella, sliced into 8 slices1 12 oz jar of roasted red peppers sliced into 1 inch pieces (about two whole red peppers if you roast your own)1 bunch of basil, whole leaves1/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan1 tablespoon Italian seasoningSalt and pepper for seasoning
Directions:Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 9x12 casserole dish. Butterfly chicken breasts by slicing into the long side of the breast, stopping just about 1/4 of an inch from the opposite side. Lay chicken breast in casserole dish opened up. Sprinkle the exposed insides of the chicken breast with 1/2 of the Italian seasoning and salt and pepper. Stack the roasted red pepper, basil, and 1 slice of the mozzarella on the bottom side of the chicken. Fold the top flap of the chicken over, tucking in the mozzarella, basil and roasted red pepper as necessary. Sprinkle with the remaining Italian seasoning. Bake chicken for 30-40 minutes (until chicken is no longer pink). Pull chicken out of oven and turn the oven to a high broil. Top chicken with remaining mozzarella slices and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Broil until cheese is browned and bubbly, about 5 minutes.
Well, for one, there's only two of us in
this apartment. I usually bag and freeze our chicken in packs of two. So I cut
that down right there. We also don't have basil leaves sitting around, unless
you count dried basil, and we definitely don't keep any mozzarella around—let
alone fresh mozzarella.
So I ended up experimenting. I basically kept most of the recipe the same, but instead of cutting he peppers into strips, I diced them. Also, I replaced the basil and cheese—because we only have Mexican cheese here—for mushrooms. Which you'd think is strange, being two college students with limited types of food sitting around. Except spaghetti is super easy to make and we both like mushrooms, so we always seem to have them around. Anyway, I ended up stuffing the chicken with the diced peppers and mushrooms, instead, and kept the seasoning the same.
Then, I sprinkled some of our dried out basil leaves over the top along with Parmesan. I baked as the directions said, and pulled it out of the oven looking like:
I'm usually very modest when it comes to my cooking. I learned everything from my mom, I don't think too much of myself and I think most of what I make is delicious but not out-of-this-world-amazing. My own mother always says otherwise. I stun her with what I cook because she thinks there's honestly no way I could have learned any of it from her (she also thinks I wasn't always paying attention when she was cooking at home, since I never did much of it myself). But this chicken? I would like to say that this chicken was outstanding. I sent my mother this picture, and she was ready to come over for dinner. My sister made a comment on Instagram saying it looked delicious...which I found to be a high compliment, considering she doesn't like mushrooms.
And what about the most important person besides myself, who I had to feed this too? He loved it so much he was talking about ways to improve it or what we could try out for next time. Next time?! I didn't even think there would be a next time!
This recipe was a hit, which surprised me because I didn't follow the exact recipe and ended up experimenting quite a lot. I guess what I'd like to say after all this is: Never be afraid to experiment with things, or make things your own. It may turn out bad, but it also may turn out great. Either way, it will always be tons of fun. The other point I'd like to make is—use Pinterest. It's a great way to discover new things.
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