A favorite in my family – a recipe I made up on the fly one day to accommodate my husband’s favorites: chicken, bacon & ranch. This is a recipe that is never exactly the same, I use different vegetable fillers each time; but the basics of chicken, bacon & ranch are always the same.

For the chicken mixture:
1 lb chicken, salt & pepper, oil – for pre-cooking chicken
1 lb good quality bacon (try baking it in the oven!)
1/2 small yellow onion, very finely diced
1-2 roma tomatoes, finely diced, seeds & liquid removed
2 pickles, finely diced or 2 tbs sweet pickle relish
Completely cook and cool chicken and bacon. Dice meat and vegetables finely. Place in a large bowl and set aside.

For the dressing:
1/3 cup light sour cream
1/4 cup light mayonnaise
1/4 cup ranch dressing (this is optional, I add it to make sure I get a good ranch flavor)
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 small clove of garlic (pasted) or 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 1/2 tsp onion powder
Place dressing ingredients in a separate small bowl, then mix well.

Mix chicken mixture and dressing mixture together, slowly adding the dressing to the chicken. Only add as much as you like, you may have leftovers. I usually make two versions of this – one with a small amount of dressing and extra vegetables, and another with more dressing and less vegetables. You can serve this cold on bread as a chicken salad (my favorite way) or hot with cheese melted on top (my husband’s favorite). Spoon mixture onto bread, cover with your favorite cheese, then place under the broiler until cheese is bubbly.

Put your diced onions into a small bowl filled with water to help take away some of the potency of the raw onions. Drain well before adding.

When in season and in stock, I like to add finely diced bell peppers and cucumbers. This isn’t the healthiest of recipes, so it only gets made 2-3 times per year. But it’s always loved when it bring it to the table.

Enjoy!

-Amelia