I made a hot, sweaty mess out of myself creating this

I used my new meat pounding mallet for the first time tonight and I have to say, I was surprised at how labor intensive it was to pound those chicken breasts flat. I made a hot, sweaty mess out of myself while creating this. Once I put the chicken in the oven, I figured it was all smooth sailing. The recipe said to bake for 50 minutes. Imagine my dismay when 50 minutes passed and it was STILL pink inside.

The pasta side and the salad were all done, but my chicken was refusing to cook. I thanked my lucky stars I was not doing this recipe for guests because I would have been mortified.

To solve this problem, I increased the temperature of the oven and baked it for 15 more minutes, which worked like a charm. By the time I took it out of the oven, plated it and sat down to eat, I was pretty annoyed and ready to write this recipe off as a one-hit wonder.

However, one bite of this delicious, give the restaurants a run for the money creation changed my mind. This labor intensive creation is a keeper as it was worth every minute.

Fresh out of the oven.

Chicken breasts stuffed with a ricotta, mozzerella and spinach filling served with a side of whole wheat pasta in a tomato-spinach sauce.