Roasted Red Pepper & Provolone Stuffed Chicken Breasts ♥ Week One EatingWell LoseIt! Challenge

There is always a story on this blog as to why a dish posted isn't the one that came off my printer.
Most of the ingredients are all there, I just like to rearranged them in different form.
First off, the roasted peppers I thought I had a jar of, must have been used for something else and the only sub in my pantry was sun-dried peppers, so to make up for the lack of moisture in the stuffing, I made a pesto.
It was tasty and there was no oozing.

Instead of chicken I used turkey cutlets. I only used turkey because I had the chicken earmarked for another dish and we had a snowstorm so there was no running out to the store. What leftover pesto I had after stuffing the cutlets was added to the orzo along with the olives. It's a good mix, Kalamata olives and pasta.

A quick review: I would make the pesto again and I found out that I do not like thin cut turkey cutlets. Actually except for sliced on a sandwich, I almost always eat the dark meat on T-day. It is drier than chicken and even though I cooked it perfectly and it was stuffed with moist ingredients, it was slightly dry. Yes, a chicken run will most definitely be doable next time.

The recipe below is the EatingWell recipe. If you want you can sub in a decent sun-dried tomato pesto which will work as well as mine did. It will include the cheese so omit the provolone.

Roasted Pepper-&-Cheese Stuffed Chicken
makes 4 servings

* 1/3 cup chopped jarred roasted red peppers, rinsed
* 1/4 cup shredded provolone cheese
* 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1 1/4 pounds), trimmed
* 3/4 teaspoon ground pepper, divided
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
* 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
* 6 ounces whole-wheat orzo (about 1 cup dry)
* 1/4 cup chopped Kalamata olives
* 5 cups broccoli florets
* 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
* 4 lemon wedges, for serving

Preheat oven to 425°F. Coat an 8-inch square baking dish with cooking spray.
Combine roasted peppers and provolone in a small bowl. Cut a horizontal slit along the thin, long edge of each chicken breast, nearly through to the opposite side. Season the chicken with 1/2 teaspoon pepper, salt and oregano. Fill each chicken breast “pocket” with half of the cheese mixture, and press the edges together to seal. Place the chicken in the prepared baking dish and drizzle with 1 tablespoon oil.

Bake the chicken until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part registers 165°F, 20 to 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook orzo according to package directions. Drain; transfer to a bowl and toss with olives, the remaining 2 teaspoons oil and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

Steam broccoli over 1-inch of boiling water in a pot fit with a steamer basket until just tender, 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and toss with butter.

Cut each chicken breast in half and serve with the orzo, the broccoli and lemon wedges, if desired.

Nutrition per serving : 501 Calories; 21 g Fat; 7 g Sat; 10 g Mono; 98 mg Cholesterol; 38 g Carbohydrates; 39 g Protein; 10 g Fiber; 649 mg Sodium; 544 mg Potassium

2 Carbohydrate Serving
Exchanges: 2 starch, 1 1/2 vegetable, 4 lean meat, 3 fat