Chicken Roulades

Read: Chicken roll-ups. Rolled up with deliciousness.

My mother snatched this recipe from one of her "Let's Eat!" classes -- a place in Orlando where you can go and put together pre-sorted meals, which are then freezable (so you'll have gourmet food all month for one day's worth of work). Well, to be more precise, she snatched a calorie-laden version of this recipe which originally called for dreaded turkey breasts (see link for real, only reason I changed from Turkey to chicken -- husband is, er, finicky). Anyway. I made it last night for the very first time, and it was spankin' good eatin'.

Chicken Roulades
Preheat oven to 350, make sure a rack is at the "top" position, and spray a casserole dish. OR you can do this ahead and freeze -- I only did them the night before and refrigerated them. Then I just popped them in last night in time for dinner!

You'll need:
6 Chicken breasts, pounded within an inch of their lives (actually, don't go too thin, you want them to be about 1/4 " thick. I put them under parchment or wax paper and happily bang away -- great stress reliever!)

Stuffing
1/2 C. Fat-free cream cheese
1 tsp. thyme
1/4 C. dried cranberries or cherries
1/2 C. coarsley chopped walnuts
1 T. heavy cream (turns out, 1 T. of this stuff ain't so bad divided by the 6 servings, so go ahead, live a little)
1 T. honey

Combine all these ingrediants and mix well. Divide into 6ths (about 6 Tablespoons) and place even amount onto each breast. Roll breasts up, careful to keep filling inside, and secure with a toothpick.

Next, make the spice rub:
1 tsp. each: garlic, basil, kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 T. fresh chopped parsley
1/4 t. fresh lemon zest
2 T. olive oil

Using the SAME bowl you just made the filling in, combine these items and mix very well. Rub evenly on each roll-up, and then place each, seam-side down, into the sprayed dish. Bake for 30 min. on the top rack, uncovered. Only 330 calories per serving. Because I am awesome, as you've probably suspected by now. They just melt in your mouth, they're so good. I served mine with brown rice and asparagus, but if you make them with turkey, they go great with other fall sides like butternut squash and corn pudding.
:)

Rock and ROLLIN':
"Proud Mary" by Tina Turner (Rollin, Rollin... Rollin' on a river...)
"Rollin with the Homies" by Coolio
"Roll Over Beethoven" by Chuck Berry