Spinach & Mozzarella Stuffed Chicken

I've been working to lose the baby weight with no avail since a week after baby duck and I came home from the hospital. When I stepped on the scale the other week, my eyes all but rolled out of my head. I gained weight...how in the world did I gain weight?

Ok so I'm not consistent with working out, where do I have the time? Between cooking, cleaning, mommy duties, wife duties, school, house, errands, etc....not to mention baby duck is still not sleeping through the night....yeah, I know, excuses.

And of course, some nights are better than others with baby duck sleeping. B could sleep through world war three so he isn't much help unless I force him up and by that point I'm just asking myself what the point in that would be since I could have already had it done. Those bad days usually end up in take out....needless to say, my diet hasn't been fantastic either.

Anyway, last week I made a commitment to change all of that. Starting with our diet. We are big red meat and potato eaters, which unfortunately isn't very health conscious in a diet. So for the next two weeks we chose to cut out red meat and starchy foods every night. Instead we are sticking with chicken and turkey and only adding starches once or twice a week. We're also keeping our calorie count between 1200 and 1400. To try and keep food from being the same boring thing every night, I've been playing with different spices and flavors to add some diversity.

Last night I made a Spinach and Mozzarella stuffed chicken breast with a single serve caprese tomato and a side salad. Delicious!

So on to our recipe.

(Serves 2)

INGREDIENTS

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 Tbs fresh minced Garlic
2 Tbs EVOO
2 Tbs butter
Thick sliced fresh mozzarella
10oz frozen spinach, thawed
1/4 C Dry white wine
1 tsp thyme (fresh)
1 tsp chives (fresh)
2 tsp italian dressing mix (just the mix, not the dressing)
salt and pepper to taste


DIRECTIONS

1) The first thing you will want to do is butterfly your chicken breast and flatten them so they are 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick and as even as possible

2) In a small saute pan, melt your butter and add your EVOO. Heat the minced garlic for about a minute. Just enough to warm it but do not brown it. Remove the pan from the heat. Mince the Thyme and Chives and add them to the pan with the white wine. Place back on the heat for another minute, just to heat the mixture. When warm, add 2-3 liberal spoonfulls (I used a kitchen tablespoon) to the inside of the chicken and spread evenly.

3) Squeeze as much liquid as possible from the spinach. Spread half the spinach on each breast. Top with sliced fresh mozzarella. Then sprinkle with salt and pepper.

4) Roll the chicken jelly roll style then tie closed with kitchen twine. Coat the outside of the chicken with more salt and pepper and the Italian Seasoning.

5) **OPTIONAL (I didn't do this)** If you would like a darker, crispier outside, you can sear the chicken in a hot pan before placing it in the oven.

6)  Pour the rest of your marinade mixture into the bottom of your baking dish. Place the chicken in the dish and put it in a 400 degree (204 degrees for those who use Celsius) oven.

Continue cooking until your chicken reaches an internal temp of 165 degrees (74 C). Make sure you are temping the chicken and not the filling or else you could end up with very undercooked chicken. I didn't even temp mine until it had a good 30 minutes to cook.

Enjoy with your favorite sides!

If you want the single serve caprese recipe, you can find that here. I found it as a pin on pinterest.