Stuffed Bacon Wrapped Chicken in a Creamy Sauce

I really wanted to make this yummy looking recipe, but my hubby was gone studying and I didn't want to make it for just myself. So, I asked Jenn if she had any dinner plans and we decided to do this challenge together. It's a good thing, too, because I'm such a scatterbrain that if I had tried making it by myself I would have crashed and burned. Not that it's a complicated recipe, 'cause it's not, I'm just really unorganized in the kitchen and often have 3 too many little helpers.

I found this recipe on Get Off Your Butt and Bake!. The scrumptious recipe can be found HERE. I took a picture of it, but it didn't turn out very good, so you'll just have to look at the picture on the other blog, or make it yourself to see what it looks like! Okay, here we go...

INGREDIENTS:

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 (10 ounce) bag washed fresh spinach
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1/2 (15 ounce) container ricotta cheese
2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning (opt)

2 -3 slices cooked, Thick sliced bacon for each breast
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
or 1 (10.74 ounce) Cream of Celery Soup

mixed with:
3/4 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. salt

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic; cook and stir until it begins to brown, about 30 seconds. Quickly stir in spinach, and continue cooking until the spinach has wilted. Transfer the mixture into a bowl, and set aside to cool.
3. Slice through the chicken breast horizontally to within 1/2 inch of one long edge, then open the meat like a book. Place each opened chicken breast in between two pieces of plastic wrap, and pound with a meat mallet to a thickness of 1/4 inch.
4. Stir the ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning, garlic salt, and onion powder into the cooked spinach until blended. Evenly divide this mixture among the chicken breasts, then roll each into an oblong shape, like a burrito, tucking in the ends. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with Italian seasoning. Wrap each breast with 2 -3 strips of bacon, and secure with toothpicks. Place into the prepared pan.

5.In a medium bowl, combine condensed soup, milk, pepper and salt. Mix until smooth, then pour over chicken.

6. Cover & Bake in preheated oven until the chicken is tender. Remove foil, & continue baking uncovered, until sauce has thickened a little more. About 15 minutes longer.

*If stuffing chicken with grated cheese instead of Ricotta, you can also melt cheese over the top of the bacon wrapped chicken.

***
We used frozen broccoli florets instead of spinach, since that was what I had on hand. We just cooked the broccoli in the microwave for a couple of minutes before chopping it up and adding it to the pan. We also wrapped the chicken with only 1 piece of bacon, rather than 2-3. Why? Because I could only fit 5 pieces of bacon on the skillet and didn't want to do a second batch. One piece seemed to be enough. Scott, who loves bacon, was satisfied with just one piece on there and said he had bacon in almost every bite.

One problem/goof-up was that the recipe says to cook it covered first, then to take off the foil for the last 15 minutes. We started with it uncovered, then covered it for a while, then uncovered it again near the end. Also, the recipe doesn't specify approximately how long to cook the chicken and I don't remember how long we ended up cooking it. Do you remember, Jenn?

Oh, and one other thing..I would reduce the amount of salt added to the sauce. It was a little too salty for my blood.

But, I thought it was fantastic! I will definitely make it again. 5 stars!!!!! (and 5 exclamation marks)