I wanted to make something different for dinner the other night. Not that I really had the time to do it, but I thought it would be nice to switch things up a little in my house. For the first time ever I went to Rachel Ray’s website. She’s got great recipes because they’re fast! Now any cooking at home is healthier than take-out because you’re using whole ingredients and you know what your putting into the food.  However, Rachel’s recipes tend not to be low in fat or calories. I found this recipe and it sounded delicious so I made it with a few small adjustments. CLICK HERE for a link to see how Rachel makes it-

Here is what I did-

1. Pound the crap out of 4 chicken breast. I used the back of a pan!!! ( I think my chicken was a little too thick to stuff, but once I started stuffing there was no going back!)
2. Sprinkle the breast with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

In a frying pan on medium sauté

1. 1/2 tbsp  butter
2. 1/2 cup mushrooms diced
3. 2 shallots chopped
4. 3 garlic cloves

• Cook until mushrooms and onions begin to brown slightly.
• Transfer to a bowl and blend. (I used my hand held blender and it worked just fine.)
• Let this mixture cool.

Once your mixture is cool, stir in:

1. 1 cup low fat ricotta cheese (partly skim).
2. 1 package chopped spinach thawed and drained. – squeeze out all the water!

Here comes the fun part!

1. Place 2 or 3 tbsp of your mixture on one side of your flattened chicken breast and fold the other side over to cover it.
2. Using toothpicks (not colored ones!), try to seal up your chicken as best you can. (This is where my thick chicken breasts got the better of me!)
3. Keep left over stuffing to use as topping.

In a large pan on medium (preferably the one you used for the mushrooms and onion (not cleaned).

1. Add 1/2 tbsp of butter.
2. Sauté both sides of the breasts to seal in the juices.
3. Transfer to an oven safe dish and bake at 350 for 15 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through

While your chicken is cooking:

• Warm up your favorite tomato sauce on the stove top.
• Warm up the left over stuffing on the stove top.
• Once your chicken is cooked through, pour a couple of spoon fulls of tomato sauce on top of the stuffed breasts and top with 1 Tbsp mushroom stuffing!

*Nutritional Information – One 4 ounce breast