Cooking it up a notch

There are limits to my culinary skills. Beyond color and age, I couldn't tell you how a red pepper differs from an orange pepper. Only recently did I learn the difference between "chop" and "julienne." And my knowledge of pairing wine with food does not extend past "red for red meat"and "white for white meats and seafood." In the past, my cooking style was pretty much me and a Betty Crocker cookbook.

This past year, I've spiced up my cooking. (Go ahead, groan, the pun was blatant, but too fun to pass.) Watching cooking shows hosted by creative chefs like Rachael Ray, Alton Brown, Ellie Krieger, and Dave Lieberman, among others, inspires me to get a little crazy in the kitchen. I'm not talking "Gorgonzola Bombolini" crazy. Crazy in the life of this "play it safe" girl's kitchen is more along the lines of adding a twist to a few ubiquitous recipes to invent a new dish. Occasionally, I'll even impress myself. And on a blue moon kind of night, I'll impress my husband...if producing a head nod and the word "good" qualifies as being impressed.

Tonight, I put a Tex-Mex spin on stuffed chicken breast and thought I'd share the recipe. I came up with this myself, so I don't have a professional recipe to share. I love taking techniques that I learn and making up my own product. I learned the stuffed chicken technique at Divine Dinners last weekend. Beware...I don't measure and I combine fresh ingredients with time-savers.

5-6-boneless, skinless chicken breasts (pounded thin)
1 can of refried beans
1 cup--maybe more, I love cheese, of shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 dollop of sour cream
2 cups of cooked brown rice (if you need a time saver- you can use a packet of the Uncle Ben's already made rice that you microwave in 90 seconds---only don't microwave it.)

1. Preheat oven to 375*
2. In a medium bowl, mix the refried beans, cheese, sour cream, and brown rice.
3. Spread the mixture on the chicken breasts (you can put a pretty thick amount on each breast)
4. Roll the breasts and then put them in a greased or tin-foil covered baking pan (crease-side down).
5. Pour a creamy salad dressing over top (I used low-fat Caesar tonight, I suspect a low-fat ranch would do the trick as well...anything really, but I would avoid oily dressings)
6. Bake for 45 minutes (I used thick chicken breasts, for thinner breasts, you may be able to bake for 30 min.)
   

You can make this dish ahead of time and keep it in the fridge until your ready to bake it. I usually do most of my food preparation early in the day when Zayden is napping. Xylie loves to help me prepare recipes.

I served the chicken with homemade salsa and mixed veggies.