Kale & Goat Cheese Stuffed Rollatinis

Ok! So this REALLY should have been my very first blog entry because this is the dish that truly motivated me to start my blog! ONE PROBLEM! I don't have the exact recipe because I was rushing & cooking dinner this night & basically using everything I already had in my refrigerator or pantry! This is the dish that a few of you saw on Instagram & urged me to get started on this here blog so although I hate to disappoint, all I can do for now is give you the basics of what I did on this night until I try this dinner a second time!

This dinner was higher in carbohydrates than the basic breaded chicken & meats I usually create because I did add panko to my breading which I will sometimes do If I am cooking a meal that is more for my husband than it is for myself. You can easily skip the panko if you want this dish to be lower in carbohydrates but even this version of it is much lower & healthier than your average breaded chicken!

What I Did! ( I won't label this "Ingredients because we already established this isn't the Exact recipe)...

Chicken Breasts! - Mine were thick so I sliced each of them to make thinner chicken breasts that I would later be able to roll. Every chicken breasts I had ended up giving me about 3 slender chicken fillets

Frozen boxed Kale! - I thawed & pressed my kale to extract any extra liquid & placed it in a large mixing bowl.

Soft Goat Cheese! - I probably used about a cup of goat cheese. I use goat cheese a lot because my husband unfortunately has an allergy to cow's milk, but you could easily substitute cream cheese in most of my recipes & I am sure the dishes would still be yummy! I used a fork and mashed my goat cheese all together with my kale in the large mixing bowl.

Grated Pecorino Romano Cheese - I added about 3/4 cup to my mixing bowl
1 Egg - added to mixing bowl

Seasonings for my stuffing - When it comes to kale & spinach I absolutely adore the flavor combinations of garlic, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes & a touch of curry &/or ginger! These are the seasonings I added to my mixing bowl, but by all means adjust accordingly to your own preferences! the tastes of the stuffing in this dish truly permeated the chicken & made this something special! That being said, I do understand that curry isn't for everyone! So if you want to make this dish with more of an Italian flair, add the garlic, salt, pepper, oregano & basil! I'm sure either way will not disappoint!

Next, I mixed my stuffing mix together thoroughly & set aside. I then took a 2nd smaller mixing bowl & combined mayonnaise with a little bit of mustard. A 3rd mixing bowl contained my usual "meat breading ingredients" which are one part almond flour, one part coconut flour, 2 parts grated pecorino romano! I added about a cup of panko crumbs to the mix this time which probably left me with a total of 2 cups of "breading".  I brushed one side of my chicken breasts with the mayonnaise & mustard combination, scooped a spoonful of stuffing onto the end of a chicken breast fillet, rolled the fillet with the stuffing in the middle & then placed the round rolled up chicken into the breading bowl & thoroughly covered! This will get a little messy & some filling will definitely fall out but that is quite alright! I placed each of my chicken rollatinis into a casserole dish that already had a can of organic store brand tomato sauce layered in the bottom & then I surrounded my rollatinis with any extra kale stuffing I had!

Baked at 375 for 45 minutes uncovered & VOILA!!!

You will notice that I only really seasoned the kale stuffing in this recipe. I did not season the breading because it already contained delicious cheese & the glue that kept the breading on the chicken had mustard in it so I did not feel it was necessary to also season my breading as I will certainly do in future recipes! The seasoned stuffing ended up adding taste to the tomato sauce and the chicken & everything was delicious! This dish was served with a side of corn on the cob which I am hoping you already know how to prepare & a spaghetti squash/whole wheat pasta combo with fresh veggies that I will have to tell you about some other time!

Peanut Butter Banana Protein Bites!

OK! I refuse to waste anything in my kitchen! Today I had bananas that were going brown so something had to be done!

Ingredients
2 Ripe bananas
2 Eggs
4 tbsp peanut butter
3 tbsp whole wheat flour
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 scoop of your favorite protein powder
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tbsp honey (or some of your favorite sweetener)
A dash of salt

TIP: If you would prefer dessert-like bites take into consideration that you are using unsweetened cocoa powder in this recipe & I also used no frills, unsweetened peanut butter! You may want to add some things to make this recipe a little sweeter. I did not make these extra sweet because these banana bites are meant to serve the purpose of staving off my hub's insatiable appetite between meals!

Mix all ingredients until you have a thick batter, drop a generous amount of coconut oil into a muffin pan & then a tbsp of batter into each "muffin cubby whole" (haha that's what my mother called them!) Bake at 375 for 8-11 minutes!

This made 24 banana bites!