Asparagus Stuffed Chicken Breasts

I saw these in  a grocery store  and wanted to try to make them myself at home for our Easter dinner.  They turned out sooo good.  Jon was complementing every bite.  Once you figure out the chicken pocket method ( I use this when making Chicken Cordon Bleu as well) this is actually a really easy dish, but comes out so impressive and delicious.  Sine i was only feeding our small family I made three breasts, but this could probably be stretched to four, just cut up more asparagus.  SInce I just kind of made this up as I went, feel free to make any adjustments to your own taste.  I think it would be good to add fresh diced tomato or sun dried tomatoes to the stuffing as well.

Asparagus Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Leah Matthews

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

6 stalks asparagus, cut in half (washed and ends cut off)
3  boneless chicken breasts, thawed
4oz cream cheese, room temp
1/2 tsp minced garlic
2-3 Tbs fresh grated Parmesan cheese
seasoned bread crumbs
margarine
salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

In a small bowl, mix together cream cheese, Parmesan cheese and garlic. Set aside.

Take a chicken breast and a  large, sharp knife; I use my chef's knife.  Starting in the thickest part of the breast, cut through making a pocket carefully edging the knife deeper through and widening the sides without cutting through the sides or bottom.  I am terrible at explaining this!  Essentially you are making a pocket i the chicken to stuff the yummy things into.  The bigger the pocket (w/out cutting through) the better so that you will have the stuffing in each bite when it is baked.  I don't seal the end, but you can use tooth picks to do this if you want.

Now, take a third of the cream cheese mix and stuff it into the chicken pocket with your hand trying to spread it out as evenly as possible.  Then stuff in four of the raw asparagus halves.  Repeat with each chicken breast.

Place them in a greased baking dish.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then bread crumbs.  Place a dollop of margarine on top of each.

Bake, uncovered for 20-25 minutes.  Some of the sauce will have spilled out, just spoon this over the top of the chicken when serving.