Chicken & Spinach

Spinach is one of those vegetables that was on my do not eat list for what seems like forever. I still don't know that I could eat a pile of it cooked, but I do love to cook with it. I even have a few spinach salads up my sleeve that are pretty good too. My post about the manicotti the other night got me thinking in Italian mode again and this little gem popped in my head. It's got a lot of similar flavors to the manicotti but no pasta to make it carb heavy. It's a few extra steps than the last few recipes I've blogged about but they aren't hard, I promise!

Chicken Rollatini with Spinach alla Parmigiana

Ingredients:
8 thin chicken cutlets (3 oz each)           1/2 c. breadcrumbs          1/4 c. parmesan cheese
5 oz. frozen spinach, squeezed dry        6 tbsp. egg whites            6 tbsp. ricotta cheese
6 oz mozzarella                                      1 c. tomato sauce

Directions:

1. Wash and dry the cutlets - season with salt and pepper. You can also use regular chicken breasts but I would suggest pounding them down pretty thin so they roll easily.
2. Preheat oven to 450 and lightly spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray.
3. Combine breadcrumbs and 2 tbsp. of the parmesan in one bowl and 1/4 c. of egg whites in another.
4. Shred or finely chop 1.5 oz of the mozzarella and combine with the remaining parmesan, spinach, 2 tbsp. of egg whites and ricotta cheese.
5. Spread 2 tbsp. of this mixture on each cutlet.
6. Loosely roll each one and keep the seam side down.
7. Dip the chicken in the egg mixture then in breadcrumbs.
8. Place seam side down in the baking dish. Recipe says you dont need to hold it together with a toothpick. We did because our chicken was not thin enough.
9. Repeat with the remaining chicken.
10. Bake 25 minutes. 
11. Remove from oven, top with sauce and cheese.
12. Bake until cheese is melted and bubbly, about 3 more minutes. 
13. Serve with pasta if you want or you could just do a salad or a veggie on the side.

My only advice with this is to make sure your chicken is thin.  It's a pain to get these rolled if it's not.  As always, have fun!