Stuffed Chicken Breast with Pumpkin sauce

I'm usually not a big fan of chicken breast.  This white meat is too rough and dry.  I want some juicy dark meat instead.  Now I'm in eating healthy mode, so I got myself a giant bag of individually frozen chicken breast from Costco.  Chicken breast is white lean meat, loaded with "make you full" proteins.  There are about 110 calories, 1.5 grams of fat, 24 grams of protein, and 60mg of cholesterol in 4 oz of chicken breast.  Best of all, there is no carbohydrates in it!  Good news for those who are trying to cut carbs off their diet.  Now all I need is a good recipe that can "soften up" this rough white meat.  Most people rave about stuffed chicken breast, let me try it and see how it goes...

Stuffed Chicken Breast with Pumpkin sauce

(serves 8 ~ 146 calories, 164 calories with sauce)

Ingredients:

for chicken breasts

4 individually frozen chicken breasts, thawed

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup shredded Swiss cheese

2 cups fresh baby spinach

2 whole fresh mushrooms, diced

a few slices of zucchini, diced

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1/4 small onion, diced

salt and pepper to taste

Pam no stick cooking spray

for pumpkin sauce

1 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 cup nonfat milk

1 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

1/8 tsp ground garlic

1/8 tsp black pepper

3/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp dried basil leaves

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F, line a baking pan with

aluminium foil and spray with Pam cooking spray,

set aside.

2. Slice chicken breast into halves, pound chicken

breasts flat to 1/4 inch thickness.  Season with salt

and pepper, set aside.

3. Saute baby spinach, mushrooms, zucchini,

garlic and onion with Pam cooking spray in a

small pan.  Let cool and set aside.

4. Lay chicken breast flat on a chopping board, sprinkle Parmesan and Swiss cheese, then put the sauteed vegetable mixture on top of the cheese.  Roll chicken breast then secure with two toothpicks. 

5. Bake in a preheated oven for 35-40 minutes until chicken breasts are no longer pink. *I cooked them too long, so they came out kind of dry :( It might be better to cover the chicken with aluminium foil next time.

6. While the chicken is having a sun bath, prepare pumpkin sauce by putting all the ingredients into a sauce pan and heat it up. 

7. Discard toothpicks from chicken breasts.  Pour about two tbsp of pumpkin sauce on top of the chicken breasts.  Enjoy!



 This recipe is pretty simple.  You may use any kind stuffing you like :)