Thursday, August 27, 2009

Southwestern Chicken Roll-ups

Sometimes, you have high hopes for a recipe, and then you're disappointed with the final result. That's what happened with these Southwestern Chicken Roll-ups.
A couple of weeks ago, David and I went to our local library, which is brand-spankin' new and supremely awesome. David found a couple of Louis L'Amour books he hadn't read (which is unbelievable), and I found a couple of cookbooks. One of them was the 2005 Cooking Light Cookbook, which apparently has every recipe that Cooking Light printed in 2005. I thought this sounded good, so I decided to give it a try.
It's very simple, really. You take some chicken breasts, cream cheese, salsa, and cilantro and roll it all up. Then you dredge it in breadcrumbs and bake it. My review: meh. They were more like cream cheese-cilantro roll ups. The "Southwest" was unnoticeable. They were fine, don't get me wrong, but nothing that I'd rave over. I want to try to make them again, to jazz up the flavors. I'll put the recipe below, but I'd like to hear from you guys! What would you do differently? I think I definitely need to use some salsa that's got more "kick" than the mild stuff we keep here. Help me out...what changes would you make to the Southwestern Chicken Roll-ups?
Southwestern Chicken Roll-Ups
Cooking Light
6 (6-oz) boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
6 Tbs. Neufchatel cheese (reduced-fat cream cheese)
6 Tbs. picante sauce
6 cilantro sprigs
6 Tbs. Italian-seasoned bread crumbs (I just dumped some out and rolled the chicken in it)
Cooking spray
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place each chicken breast half between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; pound to 1/4-inch thickness using a meat mallet or rolling pin. Top each breast half with 1 tablespoon cheese, 1 tablespoon picante sauce, and 1 cilantro sprig. Roll up jelly-roll fashion, beginning at narrow end (I used a toothpick to keep them rolled up).
Dredge chicken rolls in breadcrumbs. Place rolls, seam sides down, on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray; lightly coat rolls with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until chicken is done.

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