Stuffed Chicken Roll-Ups

Right now my cooking obsession is using fresh lemon on everything!  The fresh flavor it brings to any dish reminds me that summer is on the way!  Therefore, this year for Easter lunch, I chose to create something that had a touch of lemon along with my faves - mushrooms and cheese!  This stuffed chicken breast recipe I created was just what I was looking for.  It was a hit!  This will now be a staple in my list of recipes that are quite easy to make yet looks like you spent hours in the kitchen!  I served this dish with fresh corn on the cob and  home made pasta salad.  

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 packages of pre-cleaned sliced mushrooms, roughly chopped
• 1/2 large onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
• 3 oz part skim shredded mozzarella (approximate)
• pepper to taste
• 3 boneless chicken breasts
• 1/2 cup Italian seasoned panko breadcrumbs
• 1 lemon
• olive oil non-stick spray 

Directions:

To prep the chicken:

1. Pound out each chicken breast to approximately 1/4 inch thick.
2. Combine the juice and zest of one lemon with 1/4 cup of olive oil, 1 chopped garlic clove and 1 teaspoon of fresh cracked black pepper. 
3. Marinate the chicken breast in the mixture above for 30 minutes. 

To make the stuffing:

1. In a large skillet, heat oil on medium-high heat. Saute the chopped onion, chopped mushrooms and chopped garlic. 
2. Set aside to cool. 

To make the coating:

1. Combine 1/2 cup of panko breadcrumbs with 1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese in a measuring cup. 
2. Spoon 1/3 of the mixture onto a plate. (You don't want to work with all the bread crumbs at once because the panko crumbs soak up the moisture very quickly and won't stick to the chicken!!!)

Set up an assembly line to stuff and coat each chicken breast.

1. Lightly spray a baking dish with some olive-oil cooking spray and place at the end of the assembly line.
2. Lay one marinated chicken breast down on a working surface and sprinkle evenly with mozzarella cheese across the entire breast. 
3. Spoon 1/3 of the mushroom mixture onto the breast and spread evenly.
4. Loosely roll up the stuffed chicken breast. 
5. Roll the chicken in 1/3 of the coating mixture and coat as evenly as possible.
6. Place the rolled chicken seam side down into the baking dish.

Repeat with the 2 remaining chicken breasts. 

Once all chicken is in the baking dish, lightly spray with olive oil spray and bake for 25-30 minutes on 450. 

Side note - I put 2 or 3 toothpicks in each chicken breast to help hold it together when baking.  However, I don't know if this was actually needed.

Until next time...

XOXO

Suzanne