The Tale of the Improvised Capresse Stuffed Chicken

Let me tell you a little story about how this little baby was born...

It was a Tuesday, the sun was finally peeking through the clouds after days of rain, kickball ended on a happy note around 7pm, and I was so hungry, my stomach as about to implode upon itself. As I staggered up to my car in the second level of the office parking deck, I turned on my Ke$ha at an embarrassing volume and headed home ready to make dinner and watch trashy MTV reruns.

So once the sweats were on, the TV set, I turned to my kitchen which had just recently been stocked... Thank Goodness...  I wanted to make the Caresse Chicken recipe I found on Pinterest, so after getting chicken breast out of the fridge that had thawed overnight, I looked for my basil leaves that I had picked up for just the occasion... Only they were no where to be found. "Left at the grocery store, most likely" I thought.

Anger rising, I pulled out my last clove of garlic and a bag of baby spinach... "It's just not the same!" I moaned as I chopped the garlic and tossed it into the hot skillet on the stove. A Tbs of coconut oil followed accompanied with a cup of baby spinach. Sauteed and warm, I took it off the stove and set aside. I couldn't help but feel like it was my new least favorite kid in the family... such a let down without the basil.

So in a foil-lined baking dish I sprayed with cooking oil, I laid a raw chicken breast, seasoned with salt and pepper, and topped with several slivered grape tomatoes. Topping the spinach and garlic onto the chicken breast, I looked for my mozzarella to melt within... Good job, Maxann... you bought shredded parmesan...

Oh well... At this point, it's going on no matter what. All piled on, I folded over the chicken much like a taco and stuffed it into the oven at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.

This 15 minutes was enough to turn the previous disappointment child into a miraculous butterfly that I couldn't help but love and exude pride from every pore of my body. It was DELICIOUS! The tastes melted in my mouth, the chicken was tender, the cheese and spinach blended like a beautiful symphony of sound on my tongue, and the tomatoes popped with flavor.

So lesson learned... when all else fails- Improvise! No matter how you prepare this dish (how I did, or how the recipe calls) you won't be disappointed.