Feta Stuffed Chicken Breast with a White Bean and Olive Salad

There are two magazines that I really look forward to getting every month. Better Homes and Gardens and The Food Network magazine. I know it sounds silly, but I instantly jump on the couch with a blanket and search for all the new recipes, tips and tricks that I find hidden within their pages. The March issue of Better Homes and Gardens had some really good healthy recipes! There are at least three or four recipes that I'll be trying out over the next few weeks. Both of the recipes I'm posting tonight are straight off the pages of Better Homes and Gardens March 2011 issue. Both were incredibly delicious and couldn't have been easier to make!

Feta Stuffed Chicken Breast

• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese (I used reduced fat feta)
• 1 teaspoon finely shredded lemon peel
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

I went to the butcher for my chicken breast, so the halves are very obvious and easy to cut in half. If you buy them at the store and they are gigantic, make sure to halve them. Each portion should be about 4-6oz each depending on where you get them. Mine were about 5oz for each half. Cut a small slit in the thickest part of the breast. You want a fairly deep pocket so the cheese doesn't ooze out, but don't cut through to the other side.


Mix the feta cheese and lemon peel in a small bowl. I used a microplane to zest my lemon and I had perfect little shreds of lemon peel. Once the feta and lemon peel is mixed, remove half of it (1/4 cup) and reserve it off to the side. You can add the extra to the chicken after it is cooked. If you want to you can just stuff all the feta now.

Stuff each of the chicken breasts with about 1/2 tablespoon of the cheese mixture. Once the cheese is in the chicken, press the opening closed and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Heat the olive oil in a non stick skillet over medium heat and cook the chicken for 18 minutes, flipping once during the cooking time. I usually flip it over when the cooked portion (the part that starts looking white, has crept almost halfway up the side of the chicken).

White Bean and Olive Salad

• 3 cups baby spinach, roughly chopped
• 1 can (1 cup) white beans, drained and rinsed
  
• 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
• 1/4 cup kalamata olives, pitted and quartered
• 1 teaspoon finely shredded lemon peel

This recipe is simple!

Roughly chop the spinach


Cut the cherry tomatoes in half



Drain and rinse your white beans. We don't want slimy beans in our salad!


I bought pitted olives so all I had to do is quarter them :)


Use your trusty microplane and add 1 teaspoon lemon peel to the top.


Stir everything together and voila!!


I thought this salad was fantastic!!! Since this recipe did not call for any type of dressing, I didn't use one, but I think next time I will either drizzle it with a little olive oil or use a vinaigrette dressing. What an interesting salad! I haven't ever made one quite like this; it was delicious!

Calorie count for the chicken is 236. If you use the reduced fat feta it is even less!
Calorie count for the salad is 118 per serving. The recipe says it makes 4 servings, but I think it serves more like 6 people.