Recipe of the Week for 1/31 - Pioneer Woman's Ranch Style Chicken - Sorta

Where is this year going? If you know, please tell me! I can't believe I'm once again so far behind on my blogging. We were visiting M.K. and E last week and she was berating me (in a loving way, of course) for not writing very often. Apparently, I'm very popular among those who need a mental break. Raul once told me I should blog more often because he often checks the blog when he wants a break from work. He hasn't mentioned it lately, but then again he does have Facebook now, so maybe that occupies him.

Anyway, on to the recipe. This one comes from Ree, of Confessions of a Pioneer Woman. This is one of my favorite blogs (link on the right). The reason I used "sorta" in the title, is that as usual I made some changes to the recipe. The ironic thing about that is the very same week I made this, Ree wrote a post about making something exactly like someone else does, except for several modifications. I had to laugh since I had every intention of making her recipe the very next day, except with modifications.

Ranch Style Chicken
adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks

Ingredients
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Turkey bacon (2 slices per chicken breast)
1/2 c. Honey
1/2 c. Mustard
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
1/2 t. Paprika
1/2 t. Salt
Smoked Cheddar cheese, shredded
Canola oil

Directions
Mix mustard , honey, lemon juice, paprika & salt and whisk until smooth. This will be the marinade for the chicken.

Rinse the chicken breasts & pat dry. Place each one between two sheets of wax paper and pound to 1/2 - 3/4 inch thick. Put the chicken & marinade in a Ziploc bag and refrigerate for 1-3 hours. (I know using bags to marinate isn't the most environmentally friendly technique, but I think it works best. Of course you can just put the chicken & marinade in a bowl & cover with plastic wrap.)

Just before the chicken is done marinading, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cook the bacon.

Heat the canola oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. When it's hot, add 2-3 pieces of chicken. Cook 1 to 1 1/2 minutes per side. Remove to a baking pan. Repeat until all the chicken is cooked.

After all the chicken is cooked, bake it in the oven for about 10 minutes. Remove from oven & top with bacon and shredded cheese. Return to oven & bake for 5 more minutes until cheese is melted. Serve immediately.

The Photo


The Verdict
We really liked this! I used a German-style mustard since it's what we had on hand. We also had some applewood smoked cheddar left over from the Stuffed Onions so I used that as the cheese. Pioneer Woman uses Dijon mustard, real bacon and sharp cheddar cheese. She also cooks the chicken in bacon grease. But other than that, it's exactly the same! ;-)