Pesto & Artichoke Stuffed Chicken

Do not let this picture deter you from trying this recipe. This chicken is so good, but the picture doesn't do it justice. I don't know what's wrong with my house. When it comes to pictures, the lighting is always terrible. And right now I could go on and on about my love/hate relationship with food photography. Who knew I would care so much. So, I digress.

Back to the chicken. Usually when stuffing chicken, recipes have you pound it out flat and roll it up. I hate doing that. It's time-consuming, keeps unrolling, and never turns out how I want it to. But in this recipe, the stuffing process is soooo much easier. We'll get to that.

Also, I should note that my daughter, "Miss Sass" usually takes up to an hour to eat a piece of meat. Not exaggerating. So when I served her a whole serving, I set the timer and got ready to start evoking privileges or toys when she didn't finish (that's how we roll around here.) But to my surprise, she was the first one finished! In fact, we all gobbled it down quickly! This recipe is quick, tasty and pretty darn easy! Enjoy!

Pesto & Artichoke Stuffed Chicken

• 4 chicken breast halves
• 1/2 cup prepared pesto
• 6 marinated artichoke hearts, chopped
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• bread crumbs

Carefully slice each chicken breast in half horizontally, keeping one edge connected (I think the correct term is to butterfly.) Combine pesto, artichoke hearts, lemon juice and cheese. Spread a couple tablespoons of pesto mixture onto bottom half of chicken breast. Place the top half of chicken breast on top. Carefully dip each chicken breast into butter, then bread crumbs. Place on baking sheet and bake at 400 for 35 minutes. Let rest 5 minutes before serving.