Chicken Roulade with Roasted Broccoli

Wow, it's been so long since I've done a post!!! I know, I know, I’ve been a bad blogger but I've finally kicked myself into gear and hopefully I can get to posting more regularly. So…what’s new with me?

The past year has been very busy and stressful for me and I’ve gained some weight due to it. I’ve now since realized that in order to be truly happy, I need to reduce my stress, focus more on myself, and get back into a healthy lifestyle. I’m not really a very good dieter as I love to eat so when my BFF told me that she lost a lot of weight doing a keto diet, I was intrigued. I read up more about it and its benefits of weight loss so I decided to give it a go.

It's basically a low carb, high fat diet that keeps your body in ketosis mode, meaning you will be burning fat instead of carbs. You can find more info about the keto diet here. 

Since I hate the word diet (it makes me feel very limited), I've decided to adopt a keto “lifestyle” instead, adding daily exercise & making healthier choices when dining out. I’ve been doing it for around 3 months now and I’ve lost around 24 lbs so far. I've cheated here and there a few times, especially during family dinners out (my family eats out a lot!), but I try to eat as healthy as I can and avoid carbs & sugars for the most part.

I’ve been posting pics of my keto friendly, homemade food on Instagram and a few of my followers there have been asking for recipes so I figure, what better way to do that than post it as a blog entry!

So for my newest post, here’s a recipe for an easy dinner that’s keto friendly and very tasty! I was inspired to make this when I saw a chicken stuffed with cheese, wrapped in bacon recipe someone shared on Facebook. I decided to make it healthier by adding spinach to the cheese & serving the dish with roasted broccoli. Since chicken breast is really hard to keep moist, the spread and the bacon help keep it very moist & juicy.

Hope you enjoy!

CHICKEN ROULADE

Ingredients:

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (around 12 oz each)

12 slices of bacon (I used Fletcher's Alder Smoked Old Style Bacon)

Spread:

150 g of raw baby spinach

2 cloves raw garlic, minced

1/2 a block regular cream cheese (around 15 g)

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

1/2 tsp poultry seasoning

1/2 tsp Bovril chicken concentrate

salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

Heat a non-stick pan on medium. Add olive oil, garlic, spinach, poultry seasoning, Bovril, & salt & pepper. Sautee until wilted, about 3 minutes. Let cool

Pre-heat oven to 350°F. 

Slice the chicken breasts in half, lengthwise, but not all the way through. Wrap in plastic wrap and pound to flatten until about 1/2 an inch. Do this with all the chicken breasts.

In a blender, combine cooked spinach and cream cheese and blend until a smooth consistency (the spinach will be watery when wilted and this will help the blender blend the ingredients better). 

Lay 4 slices of bacon vertically and place a flattened chicken breast. Spoon 2 tbsp of the spinach & cream cheese spread & spread evenly on chicken. Roll all of it together. 

Place on an oiled or foiled baking sheet & bake for 30 minutes. Broil on low for about 5 minutes to crisp up the bacon.

ROASTED BROCCOLI

Ingredients:

6 cups of broccoli florets

3 cloves raw garlic, minced

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Lay broccoli evenly on an oiled or foiled baking sheet.

Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes.

Note: I put the broccoli in the bottom oven rack with the chicken above about 10 minutes before the chicken was done & kept it there while during the 5 minute broiling as well. Also, my oven has a speed bake option and a fan, which I used in this case so your cooking time may be longer.

Serves 6

Nutritional info per portion:

Chicken Roulade (6 oz.) – 471 Calories, 41.1 g Total Fat, 3.6 g Carbs, 0.4 g Fiber, 3.4 g Sugar, 20.8 g Protein

Roasted Broccoli (1 cup) – 47 Calories, 2.2 g Total Fat, 4.5 g Carbs, 2.2 g Fiber, 2 g Sugar, 3.1 g Protein