Recipe rut: week 3

This is my Mom and Dad's new favorite chicken recipe. Not only is it delicious and healthy, but it is good too. I pulsed my veggies in the food processor to get very small pieces because I thought it would make it more kid-friendly (it worked! Caroline and Sam both had seconds).  Matthew and I both rated this a 9 out of 10 and will make it again very soon (I cannot stress the easy factor!). 

Creamy Vegetable topped Chicken (from Food and Wine magazine)

1. 1 tablespoon cooking oil
2. 1 red bell pepper, chopped
3. 2 scallions including green tops, chopped (I don't normally like these...but I try to follow a recipe pretty closely the first time I use it...glad I did as these add great flavor!)
4. 1 carrot, grated
5. 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature (you can use reduced fat)
6. 1 teaspoon salt
7. 1/2 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
8. 4 bone-in chicken breasts (about 2 1/4 pounds in all), skin removed (I used boneless chicken breasts)

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat the oven to 425° (per my mom's advice, I lowered the temp to 375 because we were using boneless breasts. I bumped it up toward the end to make to "crust" brown a little bit). In a medium frying pan, heat the oil over moderate heat. Add the bell pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until starting to soften, about 3 minutes. Add the scallions and carrot and cook 2 minutes longer. Mix the vegetables with the cream cheese, 3/4 teaspoon of the salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of the black pepper.
2. Sprinkle the chicken breasts with the remaining 1/4 teaspoons of salt and pepper. Put the breasts in a roasting pan and spread them with the vegetable cream cheese. Bake the chicken until just done, 20 to 25 minutes.

*these a pretty rich, so we just had a salad with them