Lean & Green Italian Style Stuffed Chicken & Cauliflower Rice

This simple chicken is gourmet
quality ~ it's so moist and flavorful!

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon red or white wine vinegar

1 teaspoon Lakanto Monkfruit Baking Sweetener* (optional)

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon pink Himalayan or sea salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

three 6 ounce boneless, skinless chicken breasts (18 ounces total)

4 ounces part skim mozzarella cheese (Full fat may be used if you are not on a lowfat meal plan.)

2 cups baby spinach leaves

toothpicks

avocado oil cooking spray

two 12 ounce bags frozen riced cauliflower**

Method:

Preheat oven to 350*. In a small bowl, whisk together the mustard, vinegar, sweetener, olive oil, Italian seasoning, red pepper, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Set aside.

Slice each chicken breast through the middle, but do not slice all of the way through. (This is called "Butterflying".) Brush the inside and outside of the butterflied chicken breasts with the sauce mixture. Stuff each chicken breast with 1/3 of the of the cheese (1 1/3 ounces) and 2/3 cup of the spinach leaves.

Close the stuffed chicken breasts and secure with toothpicks inserted at a diagonal. Spray an ovenproof skillet with the avocado oil and place over medium high heat. Add the stuffed chicken breasts and cook until each side is golden brown. 

Two Lean & Green portions & one
  larger one for my husband. 😀

Transfer the skillet to the preheated oven. Bake for 15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. While the chicken is baking, add the riced cauliflower to a saucepan with 1/2 cup water. Cover and cook over medium-high heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Turn heat to low until ready to serve.

Remove the chicken from the oven and allow to rest for 3 minutes. Add 1 cup of the cauliflower rice to each serving plate. Top with a stuffed chicken breast and drizzle the pan juices over each serving. Makes 3 servings.

*I use Lakanto Baking Sweetener because it has a finer texture than  regular substitute sweeteners. If you do not have the Baking Sweetener in your pantry, you can process the Classic Sweetener (or other granulated sweetener) in a food processor, to create a finer texture.

**I always keep bags of Walmart Great Value riced cauliflower (found in the freezer section) or of Trader Joe's riced cauliflower (found in the refrigerated vegetable section) on hand, in my freezer.

Each serving equals: 1 lean, 3 greens, 2/3 a healthy fat & 2.55 condiments

Nutritional info per serving, approximately: 488.5 calories ~ 17.34 grams fat ~ 15 grams carbs ~ 9.68 grams net carbs ~ 67 grams protein

Notes: This delicious meal is very quick and simple to make ~ my husband and I both loved it❣