#5 - Wild Mushroom and Goat Cheese Stuffed Chicken

3 tsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 lb fresh shitake mushroom CAPS, finely chopped
3/4 tsp herbes de provence
1/4 tsp pepper
2 oz goat cheese
2 lb boneless skinless chicken
1 shallot, chopped
3/4c chicken broth
6 tbs dry sherry
1 tsp corn starch
2 tsp cold water

Heat 2 tsp oil in a pan over medium high heat. Add garlic and brown for 30 seconds. Add mushrooms, herbes de provence, 1/4 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp pepper. Cook 5-6 minutes, until golden and fragrant.. Transfer to bowl. Mix in cheese, set aside.

Make pockets in each piece of chicken. Stuff with ~2 tbsp cheese mixture. (At this point, you can refrigerate the chicken to be cooked the next day). Heat remaining oil in skillet. Add chicken and sprinkle with remaining salt and pepper. Cook 7-8 minutes on each side or until done. Remove chicken (may want to put in oven to keep warm).

Add shallot to pan and fry for 30 seconds. Add broth and sherry. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 3 minutes. Mix cornstarch in with water, then add to pan. Stir constantly, until it bubbles and thickens, about 1 minute.

Serve each piece of chicken with 3 tbs sauce.

This recipe was delicious! I will definitely be making it again. Some notes...

I used my mini food processor for almost all of the prep on this - chopped the garlic and mushrooms in it, chopped the shallot in it as well. I even used the mini processor to mix the mushroom mixture and cheese together. Worked great!

I'm an idiot and completely forgot to get any sherry, so I used apple cider vinegar instead as it was the only thing we had on hand that came close. It actually tasted pretty good! I'm excited to try it with the real stuff though - if we liked it this well with the vinegar, I can only imagine how tasty it is when one follows the directions :-P

Last thing - I only used 4 chicken breasts so I reduced the filling a bit as well. Actually, I reduced the mushrooms. I only used 3 oz mushroom caps, but left everything else the same, and put about a tablespoon of cheese mixture in each piece of chicken.

#4 - Tortellini Soup

3 C. fresh or frozen cheese tortellini
3 1/2 C. vegetable or chicken broth
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 t. dried sage
2 C. coarsely chopped spinach or other greens
1 (16oz) can small white or navy beans, rinsed and drained
4 sun dried tomatoes, minced
1/4 C. grated Parmesan cheese

1. Cook the tortellini according to package directions, until just tender (don't overcook)

2. Meanwhile in a large saucepan, bring the broth, garlic, sage and 1C. water to a boil. Stir in the spinach, beans and tomatoes. Reduce head and simmer until the spinach and tomatoes are tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the tortellini; simmer 1 minute longer. Sprinkle with the cheese and serve.

Makes 4 servings, 6 pts. per serving (351 cal. 4g. fat, 6g. fiber)

This soup went over well at our house, though I felt like it was a little too soupy. I like thick soups with lots of stuff, so I think next time I'll add some more vegetables, such as mushrooms, corn, and peas, and maybe even some more beans. Ricky and I also thought it could use a little "kick," so perhaps a chili pepper or just some crushed red pepper would do the trick. Overall, it was a good and filling meal.