My hubby is on a lo carb diet.  Nothing sounds sweeter than to hear:  “You’ve lost 5 lbs!”  So I am always on the search for healthy, yet lo carb recipes.  I follow the Pioneer Woman’s blog, and yesterday she ran something just about perfect for my purposes.  Of course, I tweaked it–She used chicken breasts and I used boneless, skinless thighs.  She cut a “pocket” in the fat breast and stuffed it with the veggie mixture.  I flattened the thighs, seasoned them, and lightly sautéed them in Olive Oil.   I loved this recipe especially because it’s so easy to add whatever veggies you like.  And even though they may contain carbs, we all know they are “healthy carbs”.  We like to add healthy veggies to our diet, and most everything I used has about 1 or 2 carbs per cup.  So when you saute it all up, and end up eating about a cup of the veg mix, you are pretty low.  Note:  some people who are not carb-resistant might serve this over rice or pasta.  Go for it!  But we just had it as a main dish, serving a simple cucumber salad with it.

“Stuffed” Chicken

4 Chicken Breasts* or 4 chicken thighs*

You can chop any number of veggies, about 1/2 cup each.  Here’s what I used:

1 chopped Red bell pepper, 1/2 cup chopped onion, two big handfuls chopped spinach,  4 or 5 chopped mushrooms, 3 cloves garlic, sliced.  Saute veggies, starting with the onion and garlic, then add the rest and saute till all is soft.  To the skillet, add

4 oz cream cheese (1/2 a regular package),

Cook till melted into veggies–just a couple of minutes.  Set aside, and in the skillet, lightly brown the chicken** in Olive oil.  This is where the chicken prep comes in.  I just flattened out the thighs, seasoned them with our favorite, Montreal pepper seasoning from Costco.  Of course, if you aren’t “lo-carbing” you could dredge the chicken in seasoned flour and egg, and saute till about 1/2 done.  Lay the chicken on the bottom of a baking dish, and spread the veggie mix over.  Topped with some parmesan cheese and baked at 350 for about 35 minutes, or till chicken is done and top is brown and bubbly.  If you have stuffed fat chicken breasts, they might take a little longer to cook.  But don’t be afraid to let the filling hang out all around the breasts, and cover with parmesan or any of your favorite cheeses.  This is SO yummy!  Ask me how I know!

NOTE:  Next time I make this, I’m going to do a version with the cream cheese, asparagus, mushrooms and spinach.  I have a feeling this is going to be one of our Go-To’s for Larry’s diet!

Oh, one more thing:  From what I used, I have calculated the carbs in one serving of this to be Under 10 on the chicken dish, and about 6 on the cucumber/tomato salad.  I am not a Doctor or a nutritionist.  I don’t even play one on TV!   So, no guarantees here.  You can do the same thing I do.   Just go by the carb books you  have, measure your ingredients, and calculate the amount of carbs in approximately one cup of the veggie mixture.  Larry tries to stay under 100 carbohydrates a day, so this seems like a pretty good addition to our lo-carb menu.