Bacon Ranch Baked Cheddar Chicken & Skillet-Toasted Gnocchi With Peas

For this week’s Thursday meal for our friends, we chose to make Bacon Ranch Baked Cheddar Chicken using the recipe from Kevin on his Closet Cooking blog.  I followed his recipe but used about 10 oz of cream cheese and 1½ lbs of chicken tenders (seven tenders).  Click on this link to check out Kevin’s site for more great pics like this one.

Bacon Ranch Baked Cheddar Chicken

Ingredients:

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts (or thighs)

salt and pepper to taste

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 teaspoon dried parsley

1 teaspoon dried dill

1 teaspoon dried chives

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

1/2 cup monterey jack cheese, shredded

4 strips bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces

1/2 cup tomatoes, diced

2 green onions, thinly sliced

Directions:

1. Season the chicken with salt and pepper to taste and place in a baking dish.

2. Mix the parsley, dill, chives, onion powder, garlic powder and cream cheese.

3. Spread the cream cheese over the top of the chicken and sprinkle on the cheese.

4. Bake in a preheated 350F/180C oven until the chicken is cooked through, about 30-40 minutes or to an internal temp of 160F.

5. Meanwhile cook the bacon and set aside, dice the tomatoes and slice the green onions.

6. Sprinkle the bacon, tomatoes and green onions onto the chicken and enjoy!

Since we had company for happy hour and ate some appetizers, we didn’t eat any of the chicken, but our friends said it was delicious and asked for the recipe – no surprise for one of Kevin’s dishes.  Also, I was too busy to get any shots so the ones on here are from the web but looked just like ours.

For a side dish Bev wanted to use a gnocchi and peas dish she had seen in Southern Living Magazine so I went on line and found the recipe which I followed as written.

Skillet-Toasted Gnocchi With Peas

Ingredients:

1/4 cup salted butter, divided

16-oz. package potato gnocchi

1 tablespoon minced garlic (about 1 large garlic clove)

2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme

1 1/2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

10-oz. package frozen sweet peas, thawed, or 1 1/2 cups shelled fresh sweet peas

2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 teaspoon lemon zest plus

1 Tbsp. fresh juice (from 1 lemon)

2 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated (about 1/2 cup)

Directions:

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high;

add gnocchi, and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned all over, about 10 minutes

2. Add garlic and thyme, and cook, stirring often, until fragrant, about 1 minute.

3. Add broth, salt, and pepper; bring to a simmer, and cook until reduced by about half, 4 to 5 minutes.

4. Add peas, parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, and remaining 2 tablespoons butter; cook, stirring constantly, until butter melts, about 1 minute.

5. Top with Parmesan, and serve immediately.

While we didn’t eat it for our meal, I did taste it while cooking and thought it was very good and the recipients did as well.  I thought it might be a little salty so I’ll use half as much next time then adjust as needed at the end.

After the rave reviews and my sample, I look forward to making both dishes for us in the near future.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

5/14/20 event date