Ranch Chicken

Ranch Chicken

Ingredients

·         2 x Boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or one per person if more than 2 people)

·         1 large teaspoon of Ranch Dry mix   - recipe below

·         8oz package cream cheese

·         Aromat seasoning

·         2-3 rashers of cooked bacon broken into small pieces (optional)

·         2 or 3 spring onions – chopped

·         Grated cheddar

Ø  Place the chicken breasts in the bottom of a slow cooker.  Top with cream cheese, Aromat seasoning and the Ranch Dry Mix

Ø  Cover and cook for 6-8 hours until the chicken shreds easily.

Ø  Remove most of the liquid, shred the chicken with two forks, combining with the cream cheese and seasoning. Return as much of the liquid to the chicken as needed to make it ­­­moist without being runny.   Add in the cooked bacon and stir to combine.

Ø  Sprinkle grated cheese on top, cover & continue to cook until the cheese has melted (about 15 minutes.) Sprinkle with chopped spring onions and serve with toast or crusty bread.

Ranch Dry Mix

3tsp dried parsley

1 tsp dill

1 tsp garlic granules

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp garlic granules

Mix these all together then store in an airtight jar.

Savoury bread and butter pudding

For an inexpensive and easy meal a savoury B&B pudding is a good option.  As it is one of my daughter's favourites you might guess that it contains cheese!!  For one or two people I would suggest halving the amounts shown - except for the eggs - just use two.

• 300mls whole or semi-skimmed milk 
• approx 75g butter (you can use spread but butter really is preferable if you can afford it)
• 8 slices of slightly stale white bread, cut into triangles.  If it isn't already stale leave it out for a few hours.
• 3 eggs
• 1 onion
• cream cheese
• grated strong cheese 

1. Put the milk into a pan and heat to just below boiling point then allow to cool
2. Peel and chop the onion very small
3. Butter the bread and the dish
4. Spread the bread with the cream cheese
5. Arrange half of the slices of bread in overlapping rows in the dish and sprinkle half the onion over the top
6. Beat the eggs until well mixed, then beat the milk (and cream) into the mixture
7. Pour half the mixture over the bread and leave to soak in for around 20 minutes
8. Preheat the oven to 180ºC  gas mark 5
9. Arrange the other half of the bread and onion over the top and drizzle over the remainder of the egg custard mixture. 
10. Place the dish in a roasting tin and half fill the tin with water to create a bain marie then place in the oven for 35 to 45 minutes until golden brown.
11. When ready remove from oven and allow to stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Chicken with bacon & leek

• 1 Chicken portion (either breast or thigh fillet) per person
• 2 - 3 rashers of bacon
• 1 large leek or 2 smaller ones
• 1 tablespoon flour
• Milk
• 1 oz butter 
• Cheese

• Cut the bacon into pieces
• Cut the chicken into pieces
• Clean and slice the leek

• Melt the butter in a pan and add the bacon & chicken and cook until browned, turning to ensure all sides are done.
• Add the leeks and cook on a low heat with a lid on the pan until softened
• Sprinkle the flour onto the ingredients in the pan and stir in, cook for 1 minute to cook the flour then
• Add the milk, bring to the boil stirring all the time.  
• Turn the heat down and simmer until the chicken is cooked.  
• Add as much grated cheese as you like.
• If the sauce is too thick you can add more milk to thin it. 

Results

Well the day after the results and I hope you all got what you wanted or needed.  I am glad to say that my daughter did and now the work of persuading her to learn to cook begins in earnest.  Yesterday evening she did cook, she made the Cheesy bacon pasta which was the last recipe posted on here.  It turned out very well and she was surprised at how quick and easy it was to make.