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chicken

Gorgonzola Cheese, Dried Cranberry, and Sage Stuffed Chicken Breasts

July 21, 2017 by mbmccarrick@gmail.com Leave a Comment

This fancy chicken dinner tastes like something you would order in a restaurant. The dried cranberries burst with flavor and the cheese is slightly melted on the crispy chicken.

Whenever I go out to eat, I usually don’t order chicken. Why? Because it is something I make at home, a lot.  When I’m eating out I want to try a new dish, something I hardly ever buy or cook. Well if I came across this dish on a restaurant’s menu, I might change my philosophy on ordering chicken! It belongs there! It’s that freakin’ good. It is a little labor intensive, so save it for a weekend. But it is well worth the work!


Gorgonzola Cheese, Dried Cranberry, and Sage Stuffed Chicken Breasts
 
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Author: Meg's Meal Planning
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • ½ cup yellow onion, finely chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • ¼ cup dried cranberries
  • ½ cup Gorgonzola cheese
  • 2 whole boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded thin
  • 1 egg lightly beaten
  • 1 cup Japanese panko crumbs
  • 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 2 tablespoons white wine
  • ½ cup unsalted chicken stock
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
  2. In a medium-sized saute pan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook for 5 minutes.
  3. Turn heat down to medium and add the garlic, cook for 1 more minute.
  4. Add the chopped sage and salt and pepper and cook until the onions are translucent.
  5. Add the dried cranberries and cook until heated through.
  6. Remove pan from the heat and let cool 10 minutes.
  7. Mix in the Gorgonzola cheese and set aside.
  8. Place the chicken breasts on a cutting board and place ¼ cup of the stuffing down the center of each breast, then roll chicken together. Tie the ends with string if needed. Place the egg in a shallow bowl and panko crumbs in another bowl. Dip the chicken into the egg, then into the panko crumbs until completely coated.
  9. In an cast iron skillet, melt 4 tablespoons of butter over medium high heat. Place the chicken in the pan and brown all sides, about 8 minutes. Then put the skillet in the oven and bake the chicken 15-20 minutes, until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165 degrees.
  10. After the chicken is removed from the oven, cut off the strings and place chicken on a covered plate to keep warm.
  11. Place skillet back on stove and heat over high heat, deglaze it with wine. Boil until reduced to 1 tablespoon, 1-2 minutes, then add the chicken stock. Boil until reduced by half, 3-5 minutes, then add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and add remaining 1 tablespoon butter.
  12. Cut each breast in half and drizzle sauce on top.
3.5.3226

 

Filed Under: chicken Tagged With: chicken, chicken breasts, dried cranberry, Gorgonzola cheese, sage, stuffed chicken

Chicken drumsticks

July 19, 2017 by mbmccarrick@gmail.com Leave a Comment

Easy and healthy chicken drumsticks seasoned and seared in a cast iron skillet and then baked in the oven.

Another dinner win with the cast iron! If you don’t own one by now, please go purchase one and then come back to this recipe. If you haven’t figured out yet, I love cooking with my cast iron…just look at all my other yummy blog posts!

This chicken is no exception. The cast iron is able to elevate a simple chicken dish by searing the outside and allowing it to finish baking all in the same pan.

Healthy Baked Chicken Drumsticks
 
Save Print
Prep time
10 mins
Cook time
45 mins
Total time
55 mins
 
Author: Meg's Meal Planning
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • 1 lb chicken drumsticks
  • 1 tbsp onion powder
  • ½ tsp seasoned salt from Penzey's Spices
  • ½ tsp Italian seaoning
  • ½ tsp roasted garlic spice from Penzey's Spices
  • 2 tbsps olive oil
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
  2. Rub chicken with 1 tbsp olive oil, season with all spices.
  3. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat.
  4. Place chicken in skillet and brown each side for a couple minutes.
  5. Place in oven and bake for 45 minutes.
3.5.3226

 

 

Filed Under: chicken, dinner Tagged With: cast iron, chicken, chicken drumsticks, drumsticks, Healthy baked chicken drumsticks, skillet

Week of Aug 30th

August 30, 2015 by Leave a Comment

I hope everyone enjoyed Grill Week! Brian did a great job and I know he enjoyed a week off from doing any dishes! Hopefully he’ll return again soon! 

  
Monday – Zucchini pasta with cherry tomatoes and cashews. I really need to use my spiralizer more; I’ve only used it a few times. More importantly, I need to show my husband this wasn’t a waste of money and we REALLY NEED IT!  

Zucchini Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes and Cashews

  • Servings: ”3”
  • Print

 Ingredients

  •  2 large zucchinis, spiralized
  •  2 tablespoon olive oil
  •  1/3 cup cashews
  •  3 garlic cloves, minced
  •  ¼ cup onion, minced
  •  1 container cherry tomatoes, rinsed
  •  Handful of basil, chopped

 Steps

1. Heat cashews in large skillet over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring 

2. Add olive oil, garlic and onion to skillet, sauté about 5-7 minutes

3. Add cherry tomatoes and cook until they start to burst open

4. Add spiralized zucchini and stir together, turn off heat

5. Add basil, stir

 

Tuesday – Grilled chicken with grilled veggies and mac and cheese. I used left over squash and zucchini and grilled it to reheat it, along with the chicken. This recipe for mac and cheese is by far the creamiest one I’ve ever tried and it’s so simple to make! The mac and cheese was inspired by this recipe. The chicken was seasoned with ½ teaspoon ground cumin, paprika, ¼ teaspoon garlic powder, chili powder, and 1/8 teaspoon salt and ground cinnamon.

Creamy Mac and Cheese

  • Servings: 4
  • Print

 Ingredients

  •  Two cups dried egg noodles
  •  2 ½ cups of milk
  •  1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
  •  1 tsp hot sauce

Steps

1. Pour milk and egg noodles in a large sauce pot. Bring to a simmer then lower the heat and cook for about 10 minutes or until the noodles are done.

2. Turn the heat off, add the cheese and hot sauce. Stir

Wednesday – Kale salad with quinoa, mango, sliced almonds, and feta cheese.  (I was inspired by this recipe, but used different fruit). Yum, yum, yum! What a healthy salad, and it’s great as a left over the next day! I made extra quinoa and stored it in the fridge for some easy lunches the following week.

Thursday– Grilled BBQ chicken with grilled sweet potato fries and a caprese salad. I was baking zucchini bread at the same time, so I couldn’t put the fries in the oven. We tried them on the grill, seasoned with some olive oil, salt, and pepper. They came out ok, but not the greatest – definitely prefer them baked.

Friday– Tacos! Enough said. 

 

Shopping List

  • Servings: 2
  • Print
  • 2 large zucchinis, 1 small zucchini
  • Cherry tomatoes
  • Fresh basil
  • 1 small squash
  • Milk
  • Shredded cheddar cheese
  • 1 bag of kale
  • 1 mango
  • Feta cheese
  • 2 large chicken breasts or 4 small pieces
  • 4 chicken drumsticks
  • 1 sweet potato
  • Two large tomatoes
  • Fresh mozzarella
  • Taco shells
  • Ground beef
  • Lettuce
  • Salsa
  • Sour cream

 Pantry

  • Olive oil
  • Cashews
  • Garlic
  • Onion
  • ½ bag egg noodles
  • Hot sauce
  • Red quinoa
  • Sliced almonds
  • Lime juice
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Honey
  • Dijon mustard
  • BBQ sauce

Filed Under: Meal plans Tagged With: chicken, kale salad, mac and cheese, tacos, zucchini pasta

Week of July 12th

July 12, 2015 by 5 Comments

I’m back! The past two weeks were much needed! I caught up with old friends, celebrated my one year wedding anniversary in Portland, ME, (click here to read about Portland), and went on a family vacation!  Over the past two weeks I finished my CSA, made LOTS of PESTO, tried some new recipes, and ate way too much seafood! (Not always a bad thing!).  

  
I made two variations of pesto.  The first one was with just basil and the second one was with basil and sorrel, both from the CSA.  

Basil Pesto

  • Time: 15 minutes
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups fresh basil
  • 1/4 cup unsalted almonds
  • 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
  • 2-3 cloves of garlic 
  • 1/3 cup olive oil

Directions

  1. Add all ingredients, except olive oil, to a food processor and blend well.
  2. Slowly drizzle olive oil and continue to blend.
  3. Add salt and pepper to taste.
 

***For the 2nd batch I followed the same recipe, but added fresh sorrel with the basil.  I froze more than half of the pesto and stored the rest in a tightly sealed mason jar. 

Monday– Panini- homemade basil pesto (see above), tomato, fresh sliced mozzarella. Another easy dinner!  Spread the pesto on the panini, layer with tomato and sliced mozzarella. Toasted on panini maker! 

Tuesday– Grilled salmon and grilled snap peas. Finished off the last snap peas from the CSA.  I love this grilled snap pea recipe, I’ve used it almost every time. It’s simple and tasty! I didn’t use a wood plank for the salmon because last time, we didn’t like how it came out. Any tips?? Instead, the salmon was seasoned with salt and pepper and placed directly on the grill for 10 minutes. 

Wednesday– Pasta with cherry tomatoes and fresh basil.  Another easy dinner for a summer night.

Thursday– Left over pulled pork, baked beans, and kohlrabi coleslaw. The pulled pork was from my parents and the kohlrabi was from the CSA.  I had never heard of kohlrabi before; it tastes like a cabbage, but has a little more crunch!

Friday– Pesto chicken. Finished off the rest of the basil. This was a great recipe, something I can’t wait to eat again once I start getting tomatoes from my garden! 

  

Filed Under: Meal plans Tagged With: chicken, CSA, easy dinner, kolrabi, pesto, pesto chicken, sorrel, summer dinner

Week of June 14th

June 14, 2015 by 1 Comment

Week two with my CSA farm box. This week I received sage, asparagus, lettuce, snap peas, spinach, bok choy, and arugula (But I gave the arugula to my mom).  I again tried to plan my meals around what I got in the CSA.  The bok choy, asparagus, snap peas, lettuce, and spinach were pretty easy to use, but MORE sage!! Both weeks I got a large bunch of sage, so I froze a lot of it this time around. Click here to see everything I made with the items form week two. 

Monday– Pulled pork sandwiches with baked beans and lettuce.  I have to admit I didn’t make the pulled pork or the baked beans.  I stopped by my parents house after picking up the farm box and my parents insisted I take some of their leftovers home…ok fine twist my arm!  But I did add the fresh lettuce for a healthy side, topped it off with carrots and red peppers.

Tuesday– Chicken breast stuffed with sage, dried cranberries, and gorgonzola  with a side of grilled snap peas. This recipe is unbelieveable! It tasted like something I would order in a restaurant!  The original recipe calls for dried apricots and goat cheese, neither which I have, so I substituted for what I had in stock.

Wednesday– Steak and bok choy stir fry. I have never cooked with bok choy before, but it was pretty easy and this recipe was a one pot meal!

Thursday– Homemade pizza with pesto, fresh mozzarella, and tomato. I used the sorrel pesto I made last week.  I followed this recipe, but used shredded mozzarella instead. Click here for the pesto recipe. 

Friday– Dinner party!  We had a few friends over for a Friday night bbq. Since I enjoyed many of the recipes I made last week, I made them again tonight.  This way I was familiar with recipes instead of trying something new for the first time.  The menu for dinner tonight was BBQ chicken with sage/cheddar biscuits, summer pasta salad, and corn on the cobb.  For dessert I made lemon shandy bars that were oh so ooey and gooey!

  

Filed Under: Meal plans Tagged With: baked beans, bbq chicken, chicken, CSA, homemade, pizza, pulled pork, sage and cheddar biscuits, steak and bok choy stir fry, summer pasta salad

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Hi! I’m Megan.

MeganWelcome to Meg’s Meal Planning. I’m Megan, thank you for stopping by my blog! I am the meal planner behind Meg’s Meal Planning. My weekly dinner recipes are healthy, simple, and can be enjoyed by the whole family! More about me...

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