I am, admittedly, really bad with leftovers. Nine times out of ten, leftovers will go uneaten in our house. I know it’s a tremendous waste, but that’s just how it is. I’m trying to be better about it, though. I really am! I was so proud of myself last week when I actually turned one night’s dinner into a second night’s dinner.
I had some leftover grilled chicken on hand, and not much time to get dinner on the table that night. I figured this might be the perfect time to whip out a recipe that I hadn’t made in a while, and because I had a couple of extra things on hand (namely pesto and marinara sauce) I decided to jazz up the old recipe.
I chopped up the leftover chicken, which amounted to about two cups. In a small bowl, I stirred together some cream cheese, some of that pesto, and a tablespoon of melted butter. Then, I stirred my chicken, a little bit of milk, and some salt and pepper into that.
This would be the filling for my little pastry bundles. Now, to work on the pastry.
(Can refrigerated crescent rolls be considered “pastry”? I think they can. Let’s go with it.)
I unrolled my can of crescent rolls and separated the dough into four rectangles. I just pressed together the seams in the middle.
I divided the chicken mixture into fourths and added a scoop to the center of each piece of dough.
Next, I brought up the corners over the chicken mixture and pressed them together on top. Then, I went back and pressed together the seams along the sides so I had four perfect little chicken bundles.
Before I popped them in the oven, I took a few seasoned croutons and crushed them up with my rolling pin.
Then, I brushed the tops of my chicken bundles with a little bit of butter and dredged the tops in the crouton crumbs, before putting them on a cookie sheet.
Once all of the bundles were ready, I popped the cookie sheet into the oven and they baked for about 20 minutes, until they were beautifully golden and ready to eat.
While the chicken was baking, I was left with plenty of time to heat up some marinara sauce to serve with the pesto chicken.
Dinner that night was great! It satisfied everyone, was deliciously simple and helped use up those leftovers that I’m always so bad about getting to. Thankfully, they didn’t get lost in the fridge this time around.
PESTO CHICKEN BUNDLES
Adapted from Southern Living
| Pesto Chicken Bundles |
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Recipe Type: Dinner
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 20 mins
Total time: 30 mins
Serves: 4
- 3 oz. reduced fat cream cheese, softened
- 2 Tbsp. basil pesto
- 2 Tbsp. butter, melted (divided)
- 2 cups chopped cooked chicken
- 2 Tbsp. milk
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/8 tsp. pepper
- 1 (8 oz.) can refrigerated crescent roll dough (I used the reduced fat dough)
- 3/4 cup seasoned croutons, crushed
- 1 cup marinara sauce, for serving
- Preheat oven to 350*
- In a medium-sized bowl, stir together the cream cheese, pesto and 1 Tbsp. of the melted butter. Add the chopped chicken, milk, salt and pepper and stir to combine.
- Unroll the tube of crescent roll dough and separate into 4 rectangles, pressing the perforated seams to seal in the middle. Spoon 1/4 of the chicken mixture into the middle of each rectangle.
- Bring up the corners of the dough over the scoop of chicken, pressing to seal. Press to seal the seams on the sides of the bundle as well.
- Brush the tops of each chicken bundle with the remaining butter and dredge the tops in the crushed croutons. Place on a cookie sheet that has been lined with parchment paper.
- Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.
- Serve with warmed marinara sauce.
- ENJOY!
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