Pan-seared Lemon Chicken Breast Stuffed with Cheese and Onion

Don't forget to check out my weight-loss blog at :  http://www.wannarunmom.blogspot.com/

Ingredients

5            Chicken Breasts

4 oz.       Fat-Free Cream Cheese

1/2          Onion, finely diced

1/2 C.     Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

To Taste Salt and Pepper

1/2 t.      Garlic Powder

2 T.        Olive Oil

1 C.        Bread Crumbs

1             Egg, beaten

1/2 C.     Flour

1            Zest of a Lemon

Cooked Rice, your preference of white or brown

Fresh Asparagus

Chicken Broth

Method:

Insert knife into chicken breast and make a "pocket" inside the breast while only leaving an inch or so of an entrance cut.

Mix cream cheese, mozzarella, cream cheese, salt and pepper, garlic powder and lemon zest.  Stuff into slits in the chicken breasts.

Beat egg with a little water in a bowl.  Put 2 T. of olive oil in a large skillet (about enough to lightly coat the pan) over medium-high heat.  Preheat oven to 350 with a baking sheet inside.

Set up two plates: one with bread crumbs, one with flour.  Your counter from left to right should look like this:  pan on stove, bread crumbs, egg bowl, flour, raw stuffed chickens.

Now, lightly dust the stuffed breasts with flour, dip in egg then roll and coat well with bread crumbs.  Now, place in the pan.  The chicken should sizzle as it hits the pan.  If not, it's not hot enough!  Take out the chicken and wait, if not, it will get soggy and greasey.

Cook about 3 min. on each side until a nice, golden crust has developed.  Then, take out of the pan and put on the baking sheet in the oven to finish cooking.

While cooking, cook the asparagus in chicken stock to add a little flavor on the stove top. (Tip: need to know how to choose the "good part" of the asparagus?  Simply hold the asparagus by the woody stem.  Grasp the top part and bend.  It will snap naturally where the vegetable becomes tender.  Then, using that as a guide, line it up with the bunch of asparagus and cut.)

Serve with cooked rice.

Serves 5-6.

Nutrition Information

*In an approximate serving.  You can adjust it by subbing brown rice or a different carbohydrate all together.

Calories: 356

Carbohydrates: 22 g

Protein: 49 g

Fat: 11 g

Pan-seared Chicken Breast with Mushroom and Garlic Cream Sauce Over Spinach

Don't forget to check out my weight-loss blog at :  http://www.wannarunmom.blogspot.com/

Ingredients:

6                Chicken Breasts

2 1/2  C.   Fresh Mushrooms, thickly sliced

2 T.           Butter

2 T.           Olive Oil

1/3 C.       White Wine

1 C.            Skim Milk

2 T.           Flour

3                Cloves of Garlic, minced fine

1 Bag         Frozen Spinach

To Taste   Salt & Pepper

-  Heat 2 T. of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

-  Salt & Pepper chicken breasts well and lay in hot pan.  Sear on each side for about 3-4 

minutes - long enough to build a good, brown color. Flip only once.

-   Finish chicken in a 350 degree oven.

-  Steam spinach either stove top or my trick - poke holes in the bag, place on a plate and steam in the bag in the microwave. Be sure to drain well... you don't want a soggy dinner.

-  In the meantime, turn heat down to medium and deglaze the pan on the stove with 1/3 C. White Wine. Scrape around the bottom of the pan with a whisk getting all the good carmelized bits of chicken off the bottom and dump mushrooms in as well as butter and garlic. Salt and pepper well.  Stir and cook for a few minutes until mushrooms have absorbed most of the liquid.

-  Sprinkle in flour and stir well.  It should form a mushroomy-paste.  Add milk and stir well until everything is broken up.  Turn heat down to low and cook for about 5 minutes until sauce thickens.  Turn off heat, it will thicken further.

-  You can then either choose to combine the sauce and spinach or serve everything individually.

Serves 6.

Nutrition Information

350 Calories

11 g of Fat

6 g of Carbs

34 g of Protein