Easy Stuffed Rolled Chicken

How do you give your kids a vote in meal planning? I mean, aside from pizza, burgers, chicken tenders…cereal. Easy! You give them one of your cookbooks and let them pick something out. While that could possibly spell disaster, that’s what I did with Cole last night. He flipped through a couple of books and I told him to flag one meal that looked good to him. For whatever reason, the quirky little guy chose some kind of complicated stuffed pork loin that looked way too complicated to make. I didn’t let him know that though and went with it. However, I bypassed the pork loin and went with chicken instead and created this Easy Stuffed Rolled Chicken.

I feel like we run into a food rut sometimes, so putting this in his hands was the best idea I have had in a long time. It turned out so good and I was happy to change things up a bit. And boy was this incredibly easy to make. Seriously. I kept it really simple and made sure it was something we would all enjoy. Some fresh spinach, some bacon, cream cheese (instead of ricotta – picky people here), a little salt and Parmesan, rolled into flattened chicken, breaded and tossed in the oven. I topped it with some marinara and then sprinkled it with mozzarella cheese. See? Simple! And oh so good.

The fun part for me was not only letting Cole pick out the meal, but letting him help me with it. He pounded the chicken, threw the spinach, cream cheese and bacon in the food processor, helped me roll the chicken, and turned on the oven for me. I think if you show your kids how easy, creative and fun cooking can be, that’s something they will take pride in and carry into adulthood. And with that, healthier food choices will probably follow.