Mike's GF Chicken Bacon Ranch & Rachael Ray's Roasted Red New Potatoes with Paprika Butter and Parsley

This is one of our new favorite dishes, created by my husband. I usually need to follow a recipe pretty closely, but Mike is a creative cook and can whip up an awesome dish (i.e., Chicken Bacon Ranch) without a recipe to follow. As I had Mike tell me the recipe, I realized it's not the healthiest dish (frying onions in bacon grease?!) but it's delicious! And, our modified version of Rachael Ray's red potato recipe is also pretty good. Mike learned a good lesson in reading cookbooks tonight -- "red-skinned potatoes" does not mean "red potatoes, skinned". We were able to salvage the potato skins before he threw them out and the dish still tasted good. :)

Mike's GF Chicken Bacon Ranch
·4 medium-sized skinless, boneless, organic chicken breasts
·1 packet of Hidden Valley ranch salad dressing and seasoning mix
·½ lb bacon                                                          
·½ cup cheddar cheese
·½ medium onion, chopped                             
·2 TBS GF all-purpose flour
·2 eggs                                                                 
·EVOO

Cook bacon. Place onions in bacon grease and fry til tender. Take chicken breasts and place on a sturdy cutting board covered in saran wrap. Cover chicken breasts with another layer of saran wrap and pound chicken with metal meat tenderizer. Crack eggs into a shallow dish and lightly beat. In another shallow dish, combine ranch mix and flour. Coat only one side of the chicken breast in the eggs and then coat in ranch/flour mix. Drizzle a few swirls of EVOO in a frying pan and place chicken breast in pan. Put cheese, bacon, and onions into the center of the chicken breast. Place another coated (on one side only) chicken breast on top of the chicken breast in the frying pan, smash the chicken breasts together with a spatula. Brown both sides of the chicken on the stovetop over medium heat. Drizzle a few swirls of EVOO in a glass baking dish and place browned chicken in baking dish. Bake at 350˚ for 10-15 minutes.

Rachael Ray's Roasted Red New Potatoes with Sweet Paprika Butter and Parsley
·3 lbs red-skinned new potatoes
·EVOO
·4 TBS butter
·2 tsp paprika
·¼ cup dried parsley
·Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 450˚. Dice potatoes into 1-2 inch sized pieces. If potatoes are small, leave them whole. Place them in a roasting pan and coat with a light drizzle of EVOO. Roast until just tender, 20 to 25 minutes.

Melt butter in a small pan with paprika. Transfer potatoes fro the oven to a bowl. Pour melted paprika butter over the potatoes. Sprinkle in parley and season the potatoes with salt and pepper. Toss the potatoes with paprika butter to coat evenly. Adjust salt and pepper and serve.

I've also shared this recipe on: Seasonal Sundays, This Week's Cravings