Santa Came Early and Chicken Stuffed with Basil Goat Cheese

Yesterday after a fun Christmas brunch with friends, I went ahead and cleaned the house and did some prep work for our Christmas Eve dinner tonight - we're having 8 people!  Love!  (I made the peppermint cheesecake, assembled hors d'oeuvres).  

Apron courtesy of Anthropologie via Lindsay Edwards!

Then I took Sam for about a mile walk, and went for a 3 mile run.  3 miles is about all I can do at this point due to my marathon knees.  It was nice to get my blood moving after a lot of overindulging.  When I came home I had a fun night ahead of me!

Our tree 2010 - vintage setting on photo

John and I have always exchanged presents a few days before Christmas, since once Christmas Eve rolls around it's go-go-go, with two families to spend time with and Christmas Eve dinner to host.  It's become a fun tradition and we usually make a nice dinner and use our Christmas china since I'm totally cheesy.   Oh!  Random fact about me - yesterday was our 4 year engagement anniversary!  

Wine was necessary.

I figure since we currently only have two place settings of it, if I don't use it for the two of us, it would never get used.  Does anyone else remember that friends episode where Chandler was giving Monica a hard time for never using her china?  He asked her what she was saving it for, and she replied "well what if the Queen of England comes over for dinner?!"  I love that!  I think my mom gave me the mentality that you should use your nice things often.  

John made an awesome chicken dish that we both agreed we would totally serve for company.  

We also made sauteed mushrooms, and kale sauteed with a little bit of olive oil, lemon, garlic, and red pepper flakes, with 1 piece of maple bacon crumbled in.  We had debated making another side but were glad we didn't - it allowed us to have room for peppermint ice cream afterwards :-)  And if by "us" I mean "me."  

Chicken Stuffed with Goat Cheese and Basil
Recipe Source: Adapted from Bon Appetit (found on Epicurious)
Serves 2


Ingredients:
2 boneless chicken breasts halves
1 green onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup fresh goat cheese (2 oz)
2 basil leaves, shredded
salt and pepper
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
olive oil


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Pound chicken to about 1/4" thick using a meat mallet.  Combine cheese, green onions, and basil in a small bowl.  Season with salt and pepper.  


Spread the cheese mixture on half of each piece of chicken.  Roll the chicken up into tight cylinders.  Tie the ends with string.  Using tongs, dip the chicken in egg, and then roll in bread crumbs.  Place in baking dish and drizzle a little bit of olive oil on top.  Bake until cooked through, 25 - 30 minutes.


For the mushrooms, we sauteed 1 package of mushrooms in olive oil, white wine, salt & pepper, and chicken broth for about 15 minutes.  


Then it was present time!  Kudos to John for picking out some awesome presents for me - the most noteworthy being this Polar heart rate monitor that tells how many calories you've burned:

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 AND...this bad boy!   
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I cannot WAIT to start playing around with my new camera!  I've wanted one all year, and since we have lots of trips and fun events coming up this spring we decided to put this in our budget.  Unfortunately, since it's (not coincidentally) not only one of my favorite things, but Oprah's too, Best Buy was sold out and John had to order it.  It's guaranteed to deliver today though so I'm on the lookout!  We've had some thieves in our neighborhood following the UPS truck around and I am SO nervous it's going to come while we are at church.  


So that's it for yesterday.  I am currently sipping coffee, watching the Today Show, and eating a light breakfast of plain greek yogurt, sliced banana, and honey.  

Gotta save room for all of the splurges I plan to have over the next few days!  I think we're going to go to the gym quickly for what John calls our "last chance workout" (Biggest Loser reference!) before we start scrambling to get ready for Christmas Eve dinner.  Hope you all have a fabulous holiday!

I'll be watching you!