I don’t know what’s gotten into me lately, but I’ve felt like quite the little gourmet. Nobody in my family has been feeling particularly peachy lately, so I just up and decided to take care of cooking dinner a couple nights a week. Last week I started with my favorite – spaghetti with a bolognese sauce so thick it’s more like spaghetti concentrate. Mmmm. That there’s some spicy spaghetti sauce. 🙂

But last night, I decided I was tired of the same ole’ same ole’. I had a lot of time to think of what I wanted, because my headaches have come back and (obviously) I haven’t been getting much sleep lately. So as I laid in bed for hours, I dreamt up a way to make chicken edible. I came up with an entire recipe on my own, but as if that weren’t impressive enough, I actually remembered it when I woke up this morning! Yup, I was happy.

I woke up and went straight to the grocery store. Unfortunately, Safeway sucks, so I then went to my second grocery store of the day. I should have just gone to Wegman’s in the first place, but alas, traffic was tight. But for feta, it was worth it.

Two grocery stores later, here’s what I came up with – brace yourself for Experimental Chicken:

Ingredients:

– Four chicken breasts

– 8 strips of bacon

– 4 slices of ham

– A handful of feta (mmm, feta…)

– A few slices of fresh mozzarella

– 3 tablespoons olive oil

– Granulated garlic, bunches and bunches

– 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

– 4 garlic cloves, chopped (five if you’re adventurous)

– 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

– 1 cup chicken broth

– 1/2 cup fresh chopped basil (or 1 tablespoon dried)

Cover a cookie sheet in aluminum foil, but a metal cooling-rack/grate/thingie over the top of it, and then place the bacon on top of that. Put in the top rack of the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 to 15 minutes.

While that’s cooking, put the olive oil in a large skillet, heat at medium/high, and sautee your chicken (about 6 minutes per side)! Sprinkle as much granulated garlic on it as your taste buds can handle. Don’t worry about cooking it all the way through – it’ll be cooked more later.

After chicken’s lightly browned, take it off the stove. Let it cool. Using the olive oil still in the pan, add the lemon juice, basil, et al. Cook that down until it forms a nice lovely sauce mixture stuff. Mmm. By this point it should smell ridiculously yummy.

Take the chicken, slice it length-wise, but not all the way through. Make a nice pita-pocket out of it. Now stuff the chicken breasts with one slice of ham, a slice of mozzarella or two, and fill the middle generously with feta. Take two strips of bacon and wrap those around the outside as a kind of wrapper. Poke sticks through to hold it all together. Now, down the top of the chicken, spread your lemony sauce over it. Put the chicken onto the same grates used for the bacon, then stick it in the oven (still at 350) and let cook until the cheese is all nice and melty.

And there you have it! Lovely Experimental Chicken! It’s nice because almost every bite is different – at some moments, you’ll get a lovely infusion of bacon. Another bite and you’ll get a lemon whipping. Another bite, and you’ll be delighted by the feta and ham combination. Really, it is just fabulous. Take a closer look. Enjoy!

Now, what shall I cook tomorrow… 😀