Dutch Oven Santa Fe Chicken

Good morning!!  Its been a while since you've heard from me.  I'll bet you thought I was MIA and had forgotten all about you.  Not so!!  Life has been crazy, but thankfully it's slowing down.

This is a recipe I've had for a while.  Its been on the menu every week for a couple of months, but I could never seem to get the time to actually make it.  And yes, its one of those that you are kicking yourself in the pants for not trying sooner.  It is delicious!  Who knew that chicken flavored Rice A Roni and taco seasoning went so well together?  Then add the richness of the cream cheese and you have yourself a winner! 

The recipe itself is really simple.  The hardest part is rolling up the chicken with the filling inside.  But I have some tricks to make it easier.  First, instead of spreading the filling on the chicken and rolling it up, use a sharp knife to cut a pocket in the chicken breast.  This works best with a nice, fat piece of meat.  Leave the opening of the pocket fairly small, but make sure the pocket itself is quite large.  Second, don't close the opening of the pocket with toothpicks.  There is nothing I hate worse than having to pick toothpicks out of my dinner.  Instead, use small pieces of spaghetti noodles.  The pasta will soften as the chicken cooks and no one will ever know it was ever there.  Pretty clever, huh?  We gave this an A.

Dutch Oven Santa Fe Chicken
12" or 14" dutch oven

1 (8 oz) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 (4 oz.) can diced green chilies
6-8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 medium onion, diced
1 (14 oz.) can chicken broth
1 pkg. dry taco seasoning
1 box chicken flavored Rice a Roni
Additional water as needed

Mix half of the green chilies with the cream cheese.  Cut a pocket in each chicken breast.  Make the pocket large, but try to leave the opening small.  (See picture below)  Stuff each pocket with the cream cheese mixture.  Secure with small pieces of dry spaghetti noodles (instead of toothpicks).  Combine the remaining green chilies, onion, broth, taco seasoning and Rice a Roni and pour into an oiled dutch oven.  Place the chicken on top of the rice.  Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.  Stir fairly often adding more liquid to the rice as needed.  You want it soft, but not mushy.  Use 1 1/2 rings on top and 1 ring on the bottom.  Serves 6-8.