Cheesy Stuffed Tomato Chicken

Total Time: 1 hr 20 mins Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 6 -8 chicken breasts, trimmed
• 1 (16 ounce) jar marinara sauce, your favorite
• 1 cup italian vinaigrette
• 1/2 cup reduced-fat cream cheese
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
• 2 garlic cloves, minced (optional)
• 1 tablespoon hot chili paste, it adds great kick (optional)
• 1/4 cup celery, minced
• 1/4 cup onion, minced
• 1/4 cup mushroom, minced (5oz)
• 1/4 cup sun-dried tomato, chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped (or to taste) or 2 tablespoons dried cilantro (or to taste)
• 1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped (or to taste) or 2 tablespoons dried basil (or to taste)
• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, minced or 1 tablespoon dried rosemary
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 (8 ounce) can of crunchy onions, crushed, bread crumbs are okay

Recipe

• 1 make deep horizontal slits in chicken breasts - ie pockets or envelopes. marinade chicken breasts in italian vinegrette for about 1-2 hours, longer is okay too. make sure to saturate the inside and outside of the chicken with marinade.
• 2 chicken filling : in a pan over medium heat with a table spoon of olive oil saute minced onion, celery, garlic & mushrooms until tender, about 6-7 minutes. turn off heat. add chopped cilantro, rosemary, basil and sun dried tomatoes, stir to wilt fresh ingredients, if using dried just toss in the ingredients. then stir in cream cheese & chili paste, allow to melt thouroughly and then set aside in pan.
• 3 preheat oven to 450.
• 4 in a deep baking dish add a thin layer of marinara sauce (keeps chicken from burning) and then sprinkle in a small handful of grated mozzarella cheese, set aside.
• 5 take chicken out of marinade and let drip dry, you can toss the marinade. use a spoon to fill the chicken pockets with sauted filling and set into the prepared baking dish. you may have leftover filling, save it. on top of the chicken sprinkle in a generous handful of crushed crunchy onions.
• 6 if you have leftover sautee filling stir it into the remaining marinara sauce and pour all around chicken in the baking dish.
• 7 bake at 450 for about 1 1/2 hours
• 8 pull baking dish out of the over and layer the remaining crushed onions and mozzarella cheese over the chicken. bake an additional 15-20 minutes until bubbly.
• 9 serve with sprinkled parmasean cheese.