Stuffed Chicken over Almond Pesto

A nice dinner for my hubby's Birthday: I started off with a Caprese Salad and then this main dish of sundried tomato and spinach stuffed baked chicken over homemade almond pesto pasta.

Stuffed Chicken:

2 chicken breasts
Salt
Freshly cracked black pepper
4 slices of mozzarella cheese
¼ cup frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and water squeezed out, split in four parts
¼ cup sun dried tomatoes, chopped, split in four parts
Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)

Almond Pesto:

2 cups of packed basil leaves
¼ cup of slivered almonds
2 garlic clove
½ tsp salt
½ tsp freshly cracked black pepper
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
Juice from one lemon
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)

½ lb pasta (bow tie or tube)

In a blender or food processor, add basil, almonds, garlic, salt, pepper, cheese and lemon juice; blend and slowly add EVOO while blender is on. Blend until smooth. Add more salt and pepper, if necessary to taste. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Slice each chicken breast in half and pound until about ¼” thin. Season both sides with salt and pepper. Layout out filets, add a slice of cheese, ¼ forth the spinach and tomatoes on each filet and roll up; secure with toothpicks.

In a sauce pan over med-high heat, drizzle EVOO and brown all sides of the rolled chicken. Then bake for 15 minutes, or depending on thickness, until cooked all the way through.

Cook pasta according to directions on box. Then drain and toss with pesto sauce.

Serve pesto pasta with sliced chicken. Drizzle chicken with remaining juices from pan. Enjoy!