Wednesday, December 5, 2007

A good company dinner

Anne, I'm glad you posted! Jill and I were worried we were taking over the blog. I didn't want to post a recipe until someone else had posted! : )

I made these tonight for a some friends. I know you're not supposed to try something new when you're having company, in case it flops... but luckily, these came through wonderfully! They were really easy to make but tasted like I had slaved in the kitchen! : )

Chicken Parm Bundles

4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) Cream Cheese, softened
1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed, well drained
1-1/4 cups Shredded Mozzarella Cheese, divided
6 Tbsp. Grated Parmesan Cheese, divided
6 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1-1/2 lb.), pounded to 1/4-inch thickness
1 egg
10 RITZ Crackers, crushed (about 1/2 cup)
1-1/2 cups spaghetti sauce, heated

PREHEAT oven to 375ºF. Mix cream cheese, spinach, 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese and 3 Tbsp. of the Parmesan cheese until well blended; spread evenly onto chicken breasts. Starting at one of the short ends of each breast, roll up chicken tightly. Secure with wooden toothpicks, if desired. Set aside.

BEAT egg in shallow bowl or pie plate. Mix remaining 3 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese and the cracker crumbs in separate shallow bowl or pie plate. Dip chicken bundles in egg, then roll in crumb mixture. Place, seam-sides down, in 13x9-inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray.

BAKE 30 min. or until chicken is cooked through (165ºF). Remove and discard toothpicks, if using. Serve topped with the spaghetti sauce and remaining 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese.

Tyson sells a thin "scallopini" chicken breast that would be perfect to use since it wouldn't need pounding, but I wasn't that smart at the store. I don't have a meat pounder, and my attempts to use other things failed, so I actually just cut the breasts in half and it worked pretty well. I used fresh spinach, diced up, because that was just what I had on hand. I also didn't use Ritz crackers, I used a mixture of crackers that I had -- some toasted butter crackers and some multigrain.

2 comments:

Anne said...

I'll be happy to give these a try when I get off this nursing diet!!

Jill said...

This place is a tomb!! Did everybody go to the nut shop?