Chicken Spinach Ring OOO LaLa

A favorite dish in our home is a "Chicken Spinach Ring". My children get to pick whatever they want for dinner on their birthday's and I make it. My daughter actually requests this meal. My son, well he wants french toast with strawberries, bananas, chocolate syrup, and rediwhip (with a little spray in the mouth for the birthday boy lol) He was however excited to see this going into the oven. They request this quite often. I love this because it's something that really isn't a lot of work, we usually keep the ingredients on hand, and it seems healthy. Well, maybe healthier than some things- like my son's birthday meal for example!

Ingredients:

2 cans of chicken, drained

2 pkg of crescent rolls

1 1/2 cups of mozzarella cheese (we like cheese)

3/4 cup mayonnaise

1 10oz pkg frozen chopped spinach

1/2 a medium onion diced

salt & pepper

Preheat oven to temp your brand of crescent rolls requires. (all brands are different)

In a medium to large bowl put in your chicken and flake it up.

          I seriously hate the smell of canned chicken, but it doesn't taste too bad and it's great in a pinch when you forgot to thaw out meat for dinner! You can also use left over chicken from another meal or even part of a rotisserie chicken from your local deli. Keep in mind how your chicken is flavored will change the flavor of this as well.

Thaw out your spinach. This is very simple to do in the microwave. I put the whole box on a plate and put it on defrost for 3-4 minutes. Take the spinach out of the box and put it on a couple of large paper towels-doubled (at least 2 layers). Then wrap the towels around the spinach and over your sink wring out the spinach. YES WRING IT OUT. Get out as much of the moisture as you can. Be careful though, because the paper towels will tear. You can do this with a clean kitchen towel if you'd like. I'm always scared I'll stain my towels so I use paper towels. Put the spinach in the bowl with the chicken-if your paper towel tears, be sure not to get any in with the food. Break it up as you put it in-wringing it out will make it be in a pretty solid ball.

Add the onions, cheese, salt & pepper to taste. I actually use whatever cheese I have on hand. The only one I've tried so far and didn't care for was pepper jack.

Add the mayonnaise-but do it in stages and mix. Watch the consistency and adjust the amount you need accordingly. You don't want it to be TOO wet. You want it to just barely stick together or it will taste like just mayonnaise. 

My great idea was to picture all needed ingredients-except I forgot to put the mayonnaise & spinach out!
The picture on the right is the texture your mixture should be when you're done.

Next you need to make the ring. It seems complicated, but it's really not. I am using stoneware (which I love and truly believe makes things cook more evenly) but a cookie sheet would do fine too.

First you put one triangle on edge of each side of your pan in the center. (See picture 1)

Then between each of the triangles put three more (See picture 2)

Continue in this manor until you have used all 16 triangles (See picture 3)

Then slightly roll the edges together. (See picture 4)

Next place the filling on the thick part of the crescent rolls all the way around the ring. You could use the spoon or fork you used to stir your mixture, or you could just use your hands. I prefer hands. It's faster and the kids think it's more fun that way. You don't have to use all of the mixture in this ring, it's pretty full if you do. (See picture 1)

Then take each triangle and fold it over the filling and tuck it under the crescent roll and filling in the center. Do this all the way around. (See picture 2)

Bake for about 20 minutes, or whenever they are golden brown. This could vary depending on the brand of crescent rolls you use. (See picture 3)

I cut with a pizza cutter between each triangle. Goes well with a nice salad.

The filling is great by itself. You can eat it as is, but it's great in a pita pocket or on a baked crescent roll or on regular old bread.

Once you get the hang of making the ring the possibilities for the filling are endless. I'm sure I'll post more recipes for filling in time! I hope you enjoy this as much as my family does. What ideas do you have?