Garlic-Lemon Double Cheesy Chicken

The downside to trying many new recipes in a week, and posting about them, are the copious amounts of leftovers in both our fridge and freezer. I say this is a downside because, I keep cooking and baking and wanting to post about it, which involves making more leftovers....more than we could possibly ever eat, just the two of us and so this creates a slight problem.

This also half explains my week-long posting hiatus. Geeky Dude and I had a lot of food to finish up in our fridge before I could make more (it was really delicious, we didn't mind!). Honestly I blame that matzo lasagna, because it was such a large dish that it took nearly a week for us to finish, but honestly, it was SO worth it. YUM!

You'll notice I said that it HALF explained my week-long hiatus. The other half of the explanation is sheer laziness. It's true, I was lazy and didn't -want- to cook all week. I was tired and cranky and just wanted to eat a pint of Ben and Jerry's. You can stop looking at me with those judgy (it's a word, I said so) faces. Sometimes people just have those sorts of weeks and mine was last week. 

For the most part Geeky Dude was complicit with my laziness, he even went out at 9:00 pm to buy me the aforementioned pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. He's a pretty good guy, and anyway, like I said we had so many leftovers. Towards the end of the week however, the leftovers were dwindling and we had ingredients to use up in our fridge. 

Now, I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but Geeky Dude is a pretty fantastic cook. It's true, he's Geeky, romantic, thoughtful and can cook.He's pretty darn cute, too.  I know, I know...I'm a lucky lady! This recipe is the result of him going through MY Pinterest boards and cooking us dinner while I continued to be lazy and not cook.

It's a solid recipe, we paired it with steamed broccoli and enjoyed it quite a lot. It's not a light meal by any means. The combo of cream cheese and cheddar cheese stuffed into the chicken make it quite heavy and incredibly filling....but tasty. 

INGREDIENTS:

oil, for greasing pan 8 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, cut into 1/2 inch slices 1 (8 ounce) package Cheddar cheese, cut into 1/2 inch slices 1 cup milk

1 1/2 cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs 1/2 cup grated Romano cheese 1 tablespoon minced garlic 3/4 cup butter, melted 2 tablespoons lemon juice 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt, or to taste 1/2 teaspoon paprika (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly coat a large, shallow baking dish with oil.
2.	Butterfly each breast by slicing in half horizontally through the center, cutting almost but not completely through. Place one slice each of Cheddar and cream cheese in the center of each breast. Close again as if placing between the pages of a book. Set aside.
3.	Pour milk into a shallow bowl. In a separate bowl, combine breadcrumbs and Romano cheese. Carefully dip each breast first in milk, then in breadcrumb mixture, patting lightly to firmly coat. Place breasts side by side in a single layer in pre-oiled baking dish, tucking edges under to seal.
4.	Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir in lemon juice and garlic, and drizzle evenly over chicken. Season breasts with garlic salt and paprika, if using.
5.	Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until no longer pink in center and juices run clear.

Changes/Alterations: We used Parmesan instead of Romano because that's what we had on hand. We also used Panko bread crumbs instead of Italian because we also had those on hand instead of Italian.  We modified this recipe down to the measurements needed for 3 chicken breasts instead of 8. This was -more- than enough food for us. It's VERY filling. Half a breast is enough for 1 person. 

Also the tucking the edges under part....super important!!! The cheddar oozes out if you don't do this step!