Cottage cheese and spinach baked chicken Serves 4
High protein and full of nutrient dense goodness, this simple, easy low carbohydrate meal will be sure to make an appearance at your dinner table. Great meal to have all year round, served with a garden salad in summer or steamed veg, mash or rice throughout the cooler months. Even the kids will enjoy this one!
Ingredients.
- 250g cottage cheese.
- 25g parmesan cheese, grated.
- 40g mozzarella, grated.
- 3 large chicken breasts (600g).
- 125g frozen chopped spinach (thawed).
- 1 tsp onion flakes.
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder.
- 1 tsp dried basil.
- 1 tsp dried oregano.
- 1 egg.
Basic tomato sauce.
- 1 small onion, finely diced.
- 4 cloves of garlic, crushed or grated.
- 1/2 Tbsp olive oil.
- 1 tin crushed tomatoes (400g).
- 1 Tbsp tomato paste.
- 1/2 tsp chilli powder.
- 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar.
- 1/2 tsp salt.
- 1/4 tsp pepper.
Method.
- Preheat oven to 180C.
- Heat olive oil in a small saucepan, add onion and garlic sauté until softened.
- Add all the remaining ingredients for the basic tomato sauce to the saucepan, cover and simmer for around 15-20 mins. Stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens and becomes very rich in colour and flavour.
- While your sauce is cooking, prepare your spinach filling. Squeeze out any extra moisture from your spinach and place all the ingredients except for the chicken into a mixing bowl, season well and stir to combine.
- Place your chicken on the counter. Slice each piece of chicken horizontally into 3 slices, giving you 9 schnitzel like pieces. Lay them out and use a mallet to flatten each piece out a little more.
- Spread the cheese mixture out evenly over 2/3 of each piece of chicken. Proceed to roll them up starting from the end with the filling.
- Prepare a casserole dish by pouring half of the tomato sauce on to the bottom of the dish, lay the chicken seam side down on to the bed of sauce. Cover the chicken with the remaining tomato sauce and bake in the oven for 45mins.
- Serve with your choice of sides.
Notes.
We serve this with a garden salad for a great low carb meal. It’s quite a filling meal and not necessary to bulk it up with rice or potato. Steamed vegetables are another great lower calorie option.
You could put extra cheese over the top of the sauce for the last 5 mins of cooking if you wanted to indulge a little.
Use what’s in season, frequently I will use silverbeet, as it’s in my garden almost all year round. I’ve even put nettle in this dish for extra nutrients.
If you’re not cooking for a family, it’s good to know that this meal freezes very well, just pack into portion sized containers and pull out as required. Or enjoy leftovers for days!
Prep 20m
Cook 45m
Nutritional Information
Per Serve (Approx.)
Calories 314 Kilojoules 1313
Fat 13g
Carbs 14g
Protein 36g
