Tag Archives: easy

Baked Ranch Chicken

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I was in the mood for a well-cooked meal, but too lazy to run to the grocery store–story of my life.

So last night I rummaged through my cabinets and refrigerator and put together a fabulous meal!

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Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup ranch dressing
- 1/2-3/4 cup breadcrumbs
- 3-4 piece of boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 package of frozen corn kernels
- 1/3 cup diced peppers (red, yellow and orange)
- 3 tbsp. olive oil
- Salt/pepper

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a medium/large casserole dish, layer in the olive oil, 3/4 of the corn and peppers. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on top.
3. As if you’re preparing fried chicken cutlets, dip the chicken in the ranch and the breadcrumbs.

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Place the chicken on top of the corn mixture.

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4. Add the rest of the corn mixture to the top. Add a little extra crushed black pepper, if you like a little kick. You can also dice a habanero pepper into the mix if you like some spice.
5. Bake for about 40 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the corn is sizzling in the dish.

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In retrospect, the breadcrumbs (while delicious) was unnecessary. I might just baked the chicken after a coat of ranch dressing next time around.

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Death by Dessert

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Collin called me this week while I was driving home from work. We don’t speak on the phone very often and frankly I was surprised at his call. But he surprised me with a new recipe challenge.

“My co-worker,” he said, “made these phenomenal cookie-brownies things and I think you need to make something similar to it for your blog.”  He explained there was a layer of chocolate chip cookie dough, with Oreo’s and then topped with brownie batter. “Delicious,” he explained.

So here is our rendition: Death by Dessert.

FYI–Collin, affectionately known as “Collskis” or “He Who Shall Not Be Named” and I met on Semester at Sea in 2009 while we were studying abroad in college.

Ingredients:

  • Sugar cookie base
  • Fudge Brownie mix
  • 1 c. butterscotch chips
  • 1 bag snickers mini bars, chopped 

For the cookie base-

  • 1 1/2 c. flour
  • 1/2 c. butter
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 c. brown sugar
  • 1/2 c. sugar
  • 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  • 2 tsp. vanilla
  • 1 tbsp milk

For the brownie mix-

  • 1 1/4 c. flour
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 2 tbsp. Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa Powder
  • 12 oz. chocolate
  • 1 c. butter
  • 1 1/2 c. sugar
  • 1/2 c. light brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 c. mini chocolate chips

Directions: 

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  2. In a standing mixer combine all the ingredients for the sugar cookie base. I opted for a sweeter-style sugar cookie–feel free to add lemon zest or orange zest for a slightly tangier base.
  3. Spread the dough out on the bottom of a 13×9 in. pan. 
  4. Layer on the butterscotch chips and chopped Snickers bars. You can really add whatever types of candies you’d like here–I went for Snickers because I was craving the sweet/salty combination that the peanuts and caramel provide. In Collin’s original suggestion, he had whole Oreo’s in the center. 
  5. In the standing mixer, add all the brownie ingredients and blend well. Pour on top of the cookie/candy combination. 
  6. Bake for 35-40 minutes.

In retrospect, I think this recipe turned out pretty damn smashing and we’ll see how they’re received by friends, family and co-workers. It kind of reminded me of the Candy Bar Cookies I made in September, but with a twist.

I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the original posting that Collin was explaining to me on Pinterest. What layers would you add?