On Tonight's Menu

As you may or may not know, I've recently discovered that I LOVE COOKING (shout out to Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond!).  And I'm pretty sure my husband loves me a little more for it.  One day maybe I'll be really good at this whole "sharing recipes" thing, but for now, I'll just try to explain what I made.

Tonight's entree was a variation of a dish that we had at our wedding reception last year.  That dish was called Ranch Chicken Fried Steak.  Sounds good, right?  Well, to change it up a bit, I went with Ranch Chicken Fried CHICKEN!  Totally different and new.

List of Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts (or 1 very large chicken breast cut in half if you're me)
1/2 c flour
1 tbsp Lawry's seasoning salt
1 tsp garlic salt
1-2 tsp pepper (depends on how much you like pepper)
2 eggs
splash of milk
Ranch dressing
4 slices of bacon
2 slices of mozzarella cheese

First up, fry the bacon in a skillet on medium to med-high heat.  Just a couple of minutes on each side should do.  Remove it to a stack of paper towels to drain once it is done, but DO NOT drain the pan!  You are, however, allowed to turn the stove off.  It will be a couple of minutes until we get back to it.

Mix flour, garlic salt, pepper and Lawry's together. I put mine on a plate and mix with a fork.

On another plate, I whip the egg and milk together, usually with the same fork.  It's all about less dishes for me!  *side note - My plates work for this because they have a decent sized lip to keep all the liquid in one place.

Put the chicken in a large plastic bag and beat the crap out of it with a meat tenderizer.  Get out a little frustration. You'll want to make the chicken about 1/2 inch thick so that it can cook through in the skillet. 

At this point, go ahead and turn the stove back to med-high heat.  If there isn't a layer of grease coating the bottom of the pan from the bacon, go ahead and add in a little vegetable oil... we are chicken fryin' for Pete's sake!

Ok, dredging time.  Everyone has a different style of doing this, but here's what I do:
Put the chicken breast directly in the flour mixture.  Flip it over a couple of times to make sure the whole thing has a layer of flour on it. 
Gently shake it off and dunk it in the egg mixture.  Flip it over a few times to make sure the whole thing has a layer of egg on it. 
Now, back to the flour.  Make sure it has a good coating of flour, then send it to the skillet (you know, the one with the bacon grease still in it... yum).

IMPORTANT:  Chicken must cook through thoroughly! 

For me, this took about 4 minutes on the first side, then I flipped it over for about 3 minutes on the other side, but it all depends on how think your breasts are (hehe). 

But seriously folks, if you're not sure about this whole thing you could probably use a meat thermometer.  I, on the other (read "not as safe") hand just poke the chicken with a knife.  If the juices are clear, you're good to go.  You can even cut into it a little and take a look if you want.  NO PINK!

Remove the chicken to a paper towel to drain. 

Turn the broiler on the "Low" setting.

Get out an over safe dish to assemble your masterpiece.  I went with a grungy cookie sheet.

Ok, layer like this:

First goes the chicken fried chicken. 
Next, slather a heaping tablespoon or two on each piece of chicken.
Then, slap a couple of slices of bacon on top.
Lastly, top it off with the mozzarella cheese slices.

Place the whole thing in the over for just a minute or two.  You have to watch it; broilers can be tricky!
When the cheese is melty looking and delicious, take it out and Voila!  Ranch Chicken Fried Chicken!
(FYI - At our wedding, the dish had a layer of fresh tomatoes under the cheese, but I didn't have any tomatoes... so I left that part out.)  :)

Try it.  Men will love you.

I served it with some homemade mac and cheese and sauteed zucchini, yellow squash, mushrooms and onions.