Bacon and Cheese Chicken Roulade

It always annoys me when people tell me they can't stick to a low-carb lifestyle because the food choices are "so boring and limited." In my opinion, your food choices are only as limited as your imagination! If you aren't looking to put a little effort in, then maybe low-carbing isn't for you but weight loss itself requires effort regardless of how you go about achieving it. Personally myself, I like to eat. I have -zero- interest in calorie restriction. I love butter, mayo and bacon far too much to ever be able to be happy giving them up. I can eat delicious food, lose weight doing it and feel like a teenager again by living low-carb. Yep. Sounds much more appealing to me! So... speaking of good food, this is what's on the menu tonight!

Bacon and Cheese Chicken Roulade with a side of Fresh Steamed Broccoli covered in a Lemon Garlic Butter. Sounds just sinful doesn't it? ^_^

These are the ingredients you will need to make 2 Roulades:

2 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
2 Medium-Large Baby Bella Mushrooms Cut into Slices
3oz of Goat Cheese
4 Strips of Pre-cooked Bacon
Grated Parmesan Cheese and Parsley (forgot to include in the pic hehe)

You will also need plastic wrap and a meat mallet or large can to pound out the chicken. I actually use a small aerobic dumbbell wrapped in plastic wrap as a meat mallet! It works great!!! ^_^

You want to start by pounding out your chicken breast as thin as you can get it without tearing it. Placing it between two pieces of plastic wrap to do this makes it a lot easier and less messy! Beat it until it's ugly! ^_^

Once the chicken is thinned out, you want to start adding the yummies that are going to be rolled inside it. I did two layers of cheese, mushrooms and bacon.

The next step is the tricky part! You want to tuck in the ends of the chicken and roll the whole thing, enclosing all those good yummies inside. Once you have done that, transfer the rolled chicken onto a long piece of plastic wrap, seam side down.

Then you want to tightly roll the chicken in the plastic wrap - making sure to get it as tight as you can. You can tighten your roll by holding the ends of the plastic wrap and rolling the chicken away from you. This will snug up the roll! It is just so much easier to show you how to do this rather then trying to explain it, so click here for a video instruction if needed.

You want it to wind up looking something like this:

Now, while you are working on doing the second Roulade, you want to have a big pot of water on the stove. You want it set to simmer but don't let it boil. When you have both Roulade's made, gently place them into the pot of simmering water and allow them to poach for about 20 minutes. They will not be cooked through! This is just to keep them tender, moist and shaped!

After 20 minutes, remove them from the water and place them into a hot frying pan (a cast iron skillet works GREAT, I just love, love, love cast iron cookware) with a bit of olive oil and butter. Let them brown on all sides.

 Once you've got them browned, they are ready to be "breaded." Shake out a bit of Parmesan cheese onto a plate and roll the chicken in it until it is coated all over. You don't need to dip these in egg first - this is just for a light crumbly coating - the crunch comes from the browned crust on the chicken! ^_^

Once you get them both rolled, place them in a lightly oiled baking dish. Sprinkle lightly with parsley -

 then place them in a 350 degree oven and cook for approximately 45 minutes to an hour. My oven is whacked so you may need to adjust the cooking time to suit your appliance. Poultry can be safely consumed when it registers at 160 degrees on a meat thermometer.

These can be served whole or sliced. Very Yummy!!

 These can be made in a ton of different flavor varieties - ham and cheese for a chicken cordon bleu, broccoli and cheese, spinach and feta... the possibilities are almost endless! They may seem like a lot of work to make but once you have made them a time or two, it will be easy peasy! ^_^

Carb Breakdown:

2g Mushrooms
3g Goat Cheese
3g Parmesan Cheese
0g Bacon                 
8g Total - Makes 2 Servings
4g Per Serving ^_^