Stuffed Chicken & Couscous

So as I sat on the couch flipping through the channels I ended up landing on the food network - which I only watch when Chris isn't home because he makes fun of how many food programs I watch - and It was Giada. She had just started explaining a couscous recipe, which peaked my interest because I had just purchased couscous at the store. Anyway, she started to explain the ingredients, and I had them all... that never happens. I mean it does happen to people, like my mother, who's fridge is a bottomless pit of perfect cooking ingredients.... but not to me. So anyway, I decided to make this couscous (minus the mandarin oranges because I wanted this to be more off a side dish than a salad), and I also decided to make some stuffed chicken breasts to go with it. 

For the couscous you will need:

1 cup of couscous, cooked per instructions

For the couscous dressing you will need:

1/2 orange, juiced

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tbsp EVOO

salt & pepper

For the couscous "crunch" you will need:

1 tbsp Italian parsley, chopped

1 handful of slivered almonds, chopped

This is super simple to make - While the couscous is cooking I mixed together the orange juice, red wine vinegar, EVOO, salt and pepper. After the dressing was mixed I chopped up some parsley and some almonds, and as soon as the couscous was done I mixed everything together. 

Add some butter to the couscous for more flavor

This dressing would also be great on salad!

The almonds add great crunch!

For the chicken I decided I wasn't leaving the house to get more ingredients, so I went searching through the fridge to see what I could come up with. I ultimately decided on two different kinds of stuffed chicken. 

Classic (2 stuffed chicken breasts):

2 pieces mozzarella cheese

1 tbsp italian parsley, chopped

1 tbsp scallions, chopped

1/2 clove garlic, minced 

1 tbsp lemon juice

salt and pepper

Spicy (2 stuffed chicken breasts):

2 pieces Hot pepper jack cheese

2 tbsp red pepper, chopped

I used a knife and created pockets in all four of the chicken breasts. I filled them with a mixture of all of the ingredients and baked them in a 350 degree oven for approximately 40 minutes (or until no longer pink). I cooked the chicken uncovered until the last 5 - 10 minutes when I covered it just to make sure the cheeses were melted.

As you can see I sliced the chicken's in the middle without breaking through and filled the pockets with the yummy ingredients!

I put them into an oven-proof skillet with a little olive oil for cooking. I also sprinkled the outside with s & p. 

The finished dish!

Sorry the plate looks so sloppy! Chris came home starving and dug into the couscous before I could snap the pic! I also made him some quick sauteed peppers so go with the dish. I simply sliced up some peppers and sauteed them in some EVOO and hot sauce, and seasoned them with some salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and a tiny bit of garlic salt. They were a last minute decision to tie the whole dish together, and Chris seemed to enjoy them (although he was starving so he probably would have eaten anything). 

If you're looking for a fun way to jazz up chicken I would definitely recommend stuffing it! You can use almost anything to stuff the chicken, and it adds some variation to what would be a plain grilled chicken dish. Have fun with it!