Stuffed Chicken Breasts

This is a simple and satisfying dinner. Add a salad or vegetable and you have a complete meal.

2 cups cooked brown rice
1 pound chicken breast halves
1/2 teaspoon pepper divided
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons finely chopped onion
1/4 cup finely chopped tomatoes
1/4 cup finely shredded part skim mozzarella cheese
1 teaspoon basil
In a zipper bag, pound chicken breasts to 1/4 inch thickness. I cut them in half, so each serving is about 4 ounces. Sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon pepper and the salt. Combine cooked rice, onion, tomatoes, cheese, basil and remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Spoon rice mixture on top of chicken breasts; fold over and secure sides with wooden toothpicks.

Spray a large frying pan with nonstick cooking spray. Add stuffed chicken breasts and cook over medium high heat one minute on each side or just until golden brown. Transfer chicken to shallow baking pan. I use my cast iron skillet, and then I don’t have to transfer the chicken to another pan. I just put the skillet in the oven and bake it in the same pan. I always have leftover rice mixture, so I just put it in the pan next to the chicken and serve the chicken over the rice that I baked next to the chicken. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
This is great by itself, but I really like to put Lemon Apricot Sauce on the top, so here’s the recipe for that.

Lemon-Apricot Sauce
1/3 cup sugar free apricot preserves
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon soy sauce
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
In a small microwavable bowl, stir together all of the Lemon-Apricot Sauce ingredients. Microwave on High 1 minute; stir.
Pour sauce over chicken.