Chicken Bacon Ranch Mac n Cheese

I've taken a very unnecessary hiatus from blogging, and I deeply apologize. I have a lot to catch you all up on, but I need to start with the most recent and work my way back from there. 

Scott and I have been at somewhat of a loss for Thursday dinners as of late, whether it be because of our budget, recent lack of creativity, or spontaneous, random plans that just come up. So, obviously, when I am out of ideas, I head to my crutch, Pinterest. Last week, I found a rather awesome recipe from a blog with a very similar name, One Ordinary Day.

Everyone, including myself, loves mac n cheese and I'm always trying to think up new and inventive ways to spice up the classic. One Ordinary Day beat me to the punch with a Chicken Bacon Ranch Mac n Cheese recipe. Click here to check it out! Scottie and I tweaked the recipe a little bit by using just regular pasta and regular butter, but it still came out pretty awesome!

  

 Season and saute the chicken on medium high heat.  








What you need for a bechamel sauce:
- butter
- flour
- milk
- cheese

 

Crisp up bacon in a skillet on medium high heat.

 

Here is our finished product! These are the basic steps. If you follow the recipe I linked above, you'll have a killer chicken, bacon, ranch mac n cheese too! The only minor disappointment that I encountered was that I felt our bechamel sauce was a little grainy...delicious, but grainy. Does anybody have any tips to avoiding that problem? Also, do you have a favorite mac n cheese recipe that you'd like to share?

Taco Bell...but BETTER!

I am reluctant to say that on Thursday I went out to Hooters with Scott for dinner. I try my very best to not eat there, but when your boyfriends' friends are in town, you can't say no. So, thankfully, we made up for our typical Thursday on Friday. I am pleased to report that dinner was a smashing success! 

My travels through Pinterest never fail me when it comes time for inspiration for interesting and new dinner ideas. Last week, I found this recipe for Chicken Ranch Tacos and I knew instantly that we had to give it a try. I give many thanks and a shout out to Pedey from Do You Smell That!? for an amazing recipe! Without further ado, here is my culinary journey through tacos. 

Chicken, Bacon, Ranch Tacos

• 1 pkg of thinly sliced stir fry style chicken (cubed)
• 1/2 pkg to 1 pkg of taco seasoning
• 1/4 cup ranch
• splash of water
• tortillas (warmed)

------------------------------------------

lettuce

sour cream

hot sauce 

shredded cheese

extra ranch dressing

bacon bits

Season and cook the chicken through in a medium sauce pan on medium high heat. Add the taco seasoning to the pan and incorporate. Add a splash of water, and then add the ranch. Incorporate all together and you're finished! The entire process should take between 10 and 15 minutes. (cooking the chicken through is the longest part)

Finally, just assemble a taco like you normally do. Scott and I used lettuce, sour cream, hot sauce,bacon bits and some shredded cheese blend mix. We also used soft tortilla shells instead of hard taco shells, but that is only because he doesn't like hard tacos. One final note, my recipe differs slightly from Pedey's, but we used her recipe as a guideline, and I give 100% credit to her!!

On a side note, as self-proclaimed sous chef last night, Scott's contribution to the meal was a delicious side dish of sauteed cauliflower and green beans! His recipe was pretty fool proof with the star ingredients obviously being green beans and cauliflower...and whatever marinade was left in the fridge (which turned out to be a zesty sesame ginger dressing). He sauteed the veggies all the way through with the marinade, and put a lid on them to steam them in the final minutes of the cooking time. The final product should result cauliflower that's tender and green beans that still retain a bit of a snap!

Do you have any killer taco recipes you want to share? Or any recipes using tortillas? I think they are so versatile! Comment below and tell me about them! I'd love to hear what you have to say!