Italian Chicken Rollatini

Our weather here is so cold that school was cancelled for the rest of the week. Yikes! I took advantage of the extra time to make a special dinner for my guys tonight. I took a cue from Shelly over at the World According to Eggface, and made some Chicken Rollatinis. To say that my guys liked them would be an understatement. They are ready to hire me out to Olive Garden. Check out Shelly's recipes for more varities of Rollatinis. I changed up her idea for ingredients we like best. These are actually pretty darn healthy!

My husband brought home some rather large chicken breasts from the grocery sale. It seemed the best thing to do with them was to cut them down in size and pound them flat. These babies were thick. I used my can of tomatoes to pound them thinner, and managed to bend the can. This is more work than I usually offer up on a weeknight, but this would be a nice dish for company or special occasions.

Italian Chicken Rollatinis

2-3 chicken breasts
spinach leaves
feta cheese
pesto
garlic powder
14 ounce can Italian tomatoes
2 Tablespoons olive oil

Cut each breast half into 3-4 equal sized chunks. Pound flat. Add a small spoonful of pesto and use a spinach leaf to spread it around the surface of the chicken. Layer more spinach leaves until the chicken is fairly well covered. It will cling to the pesto and stay in place nicely when rolling. Top that with a sprinkle of feta cheese. Roll up the chicken in jelly roll style. Heat olive oil in a skillet. Place the chicken rolls seam down in the skillet. Brown on all sides. Once all rolls are browned, but not cooked through, transfer them to a casserole dish. Sprinkle them with garlic powder. Pour the can of Italian tomatoes over the top. Bake until a thermometer reaches 165 in the center of the largest roll.

I sauteed the spinach in the leftover fats in the skillet. With a touch more garlic, the flavor was excellent. My carby boys also enjoyed some pesto flavored pasta.

My oldest son was working late, and oops, we liked it so much we ate his portion too. So, I am trying a quick and easy version. I browned two whole breasts and placed them in the casserole dish which still had some tomatoes and juices. I topped them with pesto and additional garlic. When they are done, I will slice them and add some feta cheese before serving. I think this will be almost as good, though certainly not as pretty.

Just found out the reason he was so late getting home from work was truck trouble. Temps are in the single digits here tonight, with windchills below 0. Now I have my men out trying to get his truck working. What a night for that. Hope he makes it home soon, and glad dinner is in the oven.