Garlic Bacon and Ranch Chicken

I love to make this chicken dish, so I thought I would share the recipe.  It has garlic, bacon, ranch dressing, and cream cheese. What's not to love?  It is a perfect comfort meal.  It is one of my husbands very favorite meals, and the kids love it to.  I make it in my dutch oven (usually on days that I work), so I throw the ingredients together in the morning (with the frozen chicken), put it in the oven, and go to bed.  When I get up, the house smells intoxicating, and dinner is basically ready.  Did I mention I love making this chicken dish?

I found it on a website a long time ago, and made some variations.  If I ever figure out where the original recipe came from, I will post it so they get the credit.  But for now, I'll just share my rendition.  (This is perfect for our family of six to eat dinner, and I have leftovers to take for lunch.  You may want to cut the recipe in half if your army isn't quite so large.)

Garlic Bacon and Ranch Chicken

4-5 raw chicken breasts

1 lb. bacon, uncooked and chopped

1 heaping Tbl. minced garlic

2 pkg. dry ranch dressing mix

2 cans condensed cream of chicken soup

1 cup sour cream

6 oz. cream cheese (softened)

1 1/2 cups water

Directions:

Place chicken breasts in bottom of dutch oven (or crock pot).  Combine bacon, garlic, ranch dressing mix, cream of chicken soup, sour cream, cream cheese, and water in a large bowl.  Mix well. (Cream cheese may still be lumpy, but it will melt together as it cooks).  Pour mixture over chicken, move chicken around slightly to coat pieces on the bottom.  

For the crock pot: Cook on high for 3-4 hours, or until chicken is tender and cooked through.  It may take slightly longer if the chicken is frozen.  

For the dutch oven: Cook in the oven on 225*.  Check it at 3 hours.  It may take up to 4 hours, depending on how frozen the chicken is and your oven.

With frozen chicken, and not preheating the oven, mine is usually done in just under 4 hours.

After about 2 hours of cooking, you can stir it to mix in the cream cheese, and make sure all of the chicken is evenly coated, but you don't have to.  Stirring it together when it is finished cooking works great as well.  

Usually, I use light sour cream and light cream cheese, and you can't even tell the difference.

I serve this over white rice (I make about 3 cups of dry rice).  Yum!

Chicken Corn Chowder and Croissants

Anthony has been wanting me to make corn chowder.  I've never made it before, so we looked over a few different recipes, and put this one together.  It turned out to be thick and hearty, and really good.  This will be on the Fall menu for sure!

Chicken Corn Chowder

1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 cubes) butter

1 extra large sweet onion, chopped

3/4 cup carrots, thinly sliced

1 heaping Tbl. minced garlic

1 1/2 cups flour

6 (14.5 oz) cans chicken broth

2 (16oz) bags of frozen sweet corn

2 cups half-n-half

2 grilled chicken breasts (or 2-3 cups rotisserie chicken), cut into small chunks

1 lb. bacon, cooked and cut into pieces* 

4 large Yukon Gold potatoes, baked and cut into small chunks (unpeeled)

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

* I used thick-cut Applewood smoked bacon

Directions:

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. (I use my dutch oven on the stove top)

Add the onion, carrots, and garlic, and saute for 8 minutes (or until carrots are softened a little).
Add the flour and stir to make a roux.
Cook until the roux is slightly browned, then remove from heat and set aside.

Combine the corn and chicken broth in another saucepan, and bring to a boil.  Simmer for 5 minutes.
Pour the broth with the corn into the saucepan with the roux, whisking briskly so it doesn't lump.
Return the skillet to the heat, and bring to a boil.  The mixture should become very thick.

In a small saucepan, heat the half-n-half until warm, then stir it into the thick corn mixture.
Add the bacon, chicken, potatoes, salt and pepper.  You may need to add additional salt and pepper to taste.
Mix the chowder together well, and simmer until hot, stirring frequently.  Enjoy!

This recipe makes about 6 quarts, so feel free to cut it in half.

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We served the corn chowder with these homemade ham and cheese croissants.  (Note: They do take some time to make, and it's better if you start the dough the day before you plan on serving them.  Also, we made them with Swiss and cheddar cheese and honey ham, instead of the Prosciutto and Gruyere, and they turned out great!)