Goat Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breast and Zucchini Sticks

This past weekend was crazy. The weather reached 100 degrees on Friday with a high wind thunderstorm blowing through knocking our power out for several hours. We don't really appreciate it until it's gone...especially at dinner. So needless to say dinner on Friday consisted of cheese,crackers and a beer!
All day Saturday we had a power surge about every 20 minutes so everytime I started something like laundry, dishwasher, oven etc. it would go out. This meant we were going out for dinner. Guy Fieri featured one of our local restaurants on Diners, Drive Ins & Dives; Terry's Turf Club. The food was great, staff was fantastic and the wait only about 35 minutes that night. If you get the chance go to Terry's for the best burger ever.

Sunday started with a 3 mile walk with Boomer our Lab and this is how he spent the rest of the day!

Spent the afternoon playing family tennis and by 6 pm we were all starving, The first recipe came from PinterestBaked Zucchini & sweet onion sauce.

Recipe for Zucchini Sticks
(I followed this exactly as the original recipe)

3 medium zucchinis cut into strips


place in colander over a bowl and sprinkle with salt, toss to coat. This allows the moisture in the zucchini to come out, so you will have a crunchy stick. Leave to drain about 1 hour, pat dry.

Next mix:
1 cup Panko bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 T. dried Italian herbs

Beat 2 eggs and dip zucchini

Roll Only one at a time, if not you will get a soupy mix of bread crumbs.
Lay them out on a baking sheet, I used my silpat. ( this is the tedious part, give your kids the job)

Bake at 475 for 12 minutes, turn each over, and bake another 12 minutes. At the end I turned my broiler on for the last 1-2 minutes.

Make the dipping sauce while zucchini is baking.
Saute 1 large sliced onion in 1 T of butter, until brown takes about 20 minutes ( do this first before you start dipping the zucchini)

Place in a food processor and add:

2 T cider vinegar
2 T honey
1 T grainy mustard
I found this to be too sweet and tasted more like a package of honey mustard sauce from Burger King.
So.....
I added
1/4 cup horseradish
1-2 T Sriracha hot chili sauce
1 cup mayo
Blend and it looks like this:

Place on a cute tray & bowl; Serve.

This is my Recipe for:
Goat Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breast

Heat the grill to medium.

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts; with a small paring knife make a slit to form the pocket.

Mix together:

2 oz goat cheese
2 oz cream cheese ( I used neufchatel 33% less fat)
1 T finely chopped onion
3 sundried tomatoes packed in oil; finely chopped
2 artichoke hearts; finely chopped
1/2 tsp. Italian herbs
Mix together with a fork or spoon until creamy.

Fill chicken pocket with 1/4 of the mixture, secure with a toothpick, rub with olive oil and sprinkle with Italian Herbs, place on a cast iron grill pan  ( this is my favorite grill pan best invention ever!!!)sprayed with cooking oil.

Cook about 12 minutes on one side ( covered by lid) flip and cook about 12 more minutes.
Depending on size of breasts.

                                          Chicken was extremely moist and juicy.

               Served with the zucchini appetizer and a side green salad. Enjoy!!!