Spinach and Tomato Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Photo curteosy for 5dollardinners.com

This was easy, good and cheap. Really, how much better can you get?

I only used 2 chicken breasts since that's what I had after I broke down a whole chicken. You could also use other cuts though -- like boneless thighs or something.

Here's the recipe and then what I did a little differently is below that.

Spinach and Tomato Stuffed Chicken Breasts
by Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom on January 19, 2011

Ingredients
■1 box frozen spinach
■1 Tbsp olive oil
■1 tomato, diced (or 1 15 oz can drained diced tomatoes)
■4 garlic cloves, crushed
■Sprinkles of dried basil, salt and pepper
■3-4 chicken breasts, depending on size…about 1.3 lb.
■About 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
■1 6 oz can tomato paste
■About 1 tsp Italian seasonings

Directions
■Cook the spinach as directed on the package and drain well. And by well, I mean well.
■In a large skillet, add the olive oil, well drained spinach, diced tomato and crushed garlic. Add a few sprinkles of basil and salt and pepper. Saute for 5-7 minutes, or until fairly dry and liquid has steamed off.
■Pound out the chicken breasts and place into a slightly greased baking dish. Spoon the spinach and tomato mixture into the chicken breasts. Top with some shredded mozzarella cheese and roll up. Repeat for all the chicken breasts. Spoon any remaining spinach around the chicken in the baking dish. Bake at 375 for 45-50 minutes, or until cooked through.
■While the chicken is baking, make some red sauce with the tomato paste. Spoon the tomato paste into a small saucepan and add 2.5 cans worth of water. Whisk and add some Italian seasonings and let simmer over low heat until the chicken is finished baking. Spoon the sauce over the chicken pieves (You could also use tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes or spaghetti sauce!)

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So I basically followed the directions exactly. I only used 2 chicken breasts though, so I cut down on the spinach and used only 1/2 a bag of frozen spinach. I don't know why you would need frozen spinach though. You could totally use fresh spinach and ust let it wilt down in the pan with the tomatoes.

For the mozzarella -- use whatever you have or whatever is on sale. Shredded, sliced, string cheese....whatever.

I made her "red sauce" but honestly, it wasn't the greatest. Next time I'd rather just use some pasta sauce or some jazzed up tomato sauce. The sauce made from the tomato paste wasn't bad...it just wasn't great. I had to add sugar and ketchup and spices and what not to make it alright. And even still...it just lacked depth. I dunno...

After the chicken was done, I topped it with the red sauce and then put more mozzarella on top of that, then stuck it under the broiler for 2-3 minutes until the cheese was nice, golden and bubbly. This was a HUGE bonus. It made it REALLY good. I think it kind of took the dish from 3.5 stars to 4.5 stars. DO THIS! :)