Stuffed Mediterranean Chicken

We made it over to Trader Joe's last weekend. Actually, we make it to Trader Joe's quite often, it's just that the store is usually so packed I won't deal with the crowds. When I see all registers open and the lines are 6 deep, I seriously have to ask myself what they possibly have in there that I need that badly.

And dudes, they seriously ought to license people to push shopping carts. I don't know what it is, but every time we go to Joe's on a weekend it seems people are missing most of their manners and brain cells.

But amazingly last weekend very few people were in the store and we did some shopping. (yes, mom, I got some more calcium supplements.) But the big item, the one real thing that brings me to Trader Joe's is the mixed olive bruschetta. If I've got this in my pantry, I can make almost anything palatable and I can create a meal out of thin air. It makes playing the What's for Dinner game so much easier.




So on Sunday, I made a dish I haven't made in a while, Stuffed Mediterranean Chicken.

Stuffed Mediterranean Chicken

Cooking time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

boneless, skinless chicken breasts

For each breast you'll want:

2 Tbsp olive bruschetta or tapenade

Tbsp crumbled feta cheese

extra virgin olive oil

freshly ground black pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. Cut a 2-inch pocket into the thickest part of the chicken breast.
3. In a bowl, combine the olive tapenade and the feta and scoop the mixture into the chicken breasts and season the outside with the pepper.
4. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Cook the chicken for 2 - 3 minutes on each side, or until brown.
5. If you're not using an oven-safe skillet, transfer the chicken to a baking dish before moving to the oven. Bake for 18 minutes.

I'd had some other shots of this that showed the stuffed part, but frankly they were looking a little too anatomical to be appetizing.