Aussie Chicken

Princess was home this past Sunday all day long, which is highly unusual. Usually, she works the opening shift at one location (7am) and then works the closing shift at another location (11pm). Yes, she works hard.




So Hubby, being the kind and compassionate guy that he CAN be, requested we do something special for dinner ... that sounded like a GREAT plan. But first, I had to do a run to my dad's, Costco and a few other places. And of course, it IS Sunday, and not raining, so I wanted to get a little pool time in ... and I was thinking Chicken Picatta ... she loves that stuff.


But then, the floating in the pool, the ice cold beer, Princess had her best friend over, who created these totally awesome cilantro margaritas (I did NOT partake, just sipped), the music, time just got away from us ... so I decided to make Alice Springs/Aussie Style Chicken instead. Easy. Using what I had on hand, here's how I did it ... a very loose recipe, you might say :)

boneless, skinless chicken breast, butterfly (slice in half) to make them thinner
bacon
cheddar cheese
provolone cheese
mushrooms (optional, I used a small can of shrooms)
honey mustard dressing
Mrs. Dash (original, or any other seasoned salt you have on hand)

It should be noted that I would normally MAKE the honey mustard dressing, but time was short, I was a little buzzy and heck, it was about enjoying the day, so I used this instead


Here's what you need to do ...

Fry up the bacon til crispy.  Drain on some papertowle, paper bags, whatever makes you happy, just drain it! DO NOT DRAIN THE BACON FAT!



While that's cooking, sprinkle the chicken with seasoning, both sides.



Add chicken to the pan that you cooked the bacon in and cook chicken over medium heat, flipping when one side is golden. Cook til no longer pink inside ... remove to plate and keep warm while you finish cooking all of it.

Line a baking sheet with tinfoil. This is totally optional but you will see why I suggest it at the end of the post!

Squirt the cooked chicken with a little (or a lot) of the honey mustard dressing, and brush it all over the top side only.



 
We have SO many basting brushes that Hubby has gotten for free over the years!

Move the chicken to the baking sheet and place a layer of bacon, the shredded cheddar cheese, the shrooms and then top with half a slice of provolone.

BACON

CHEDDAR CHEESE

 SHROOMS

HALF SLICE PROVOLONE CHEESE


Bake at 350 (or if you are adventurous and REALLY watching things, BROIL) til the cheese is bubbly and melted.

Remove from oven, carefully dish up and serve with a side veggie (I opted to do spicy green beans) and serve.


The girls woofed it down, while wrapped up the towels on the patio. It was truly a beautiful day, weather wise, and even at 7pm, no one wanted to end the day just yet.

Would this be considered a FRUGAL meal? Yes, IF you have the basic ingredients on hand. I almost ALWAYS have bacon and chicken breast on hand ... and I opted to do the cheddar and provolone as that's what I had ... not the typical colby and jack cheese mix. And of course, ANY TIME you cook at home instead of going out, it's FRUGAL!

I wanted shrooms on the ones for me and Hubby so I dug around in the pantry and came out with these in hand


Clean up was really easy ... all I really had to deal with was the frying pan ...

Pull off the foil and ....
a CLEAN pan! I do NOT endorse cheap/thin tin foil for this reason!

Tossed in a jar of salad for me on the side and whoopee ... I was one HAPPY camper for a Sunday dinner!


Linking up with these GREAT blog parties: Made Famous By, What's Cooking Wednesday, Its a Party!, Show and Tell, Recipe Swap, Works For Me Wednesday, Sugar and Spice, Whatever Goes Wednesday, Wednesday Whatsits, Homemade By You, Lil Luna Link Party, Ultimate Recipe Swap, Show Your Stuff, Taste This Thursday, Thrifty Thursday, Frugal Food Thursday, Somewhat Simple, Showcase Your Talent, Frugal Fridays, Food on Friday, Anything Goes, Dwell on Fridays, Friday Foodfight, Foodie Friday, Simple Living Foodie Friday, Inspirations, Weekend Wander,Simply Delicious Saturday,Weekly Roundup, Feature Yourself Saturday,I Gotta Create, Strut Your Stuff Saturday, Saturday Link& Greet, Saturday Show & Tell, Say G'day Saturday, Not Bad Sunday, Potluck Party, Sunday Showcase, Dishing It Up, Savory Sunday, Sundae Scoop, Mop It Up Monday, Mangia Monday, Creative Monday, Melt In Your Mouth Monday, Show Me What You Got, Made By You Monday, Muffin Monday, Hunk of Meat Monday, Meatless Monday, Marvelous Mess, Mix and Mingle, Making It Cuter, Motivated Monday, Whats In The Gunny Sack, Makin You Crave Monday,I Gotta Try That Mondays, Creative Corner Blog Hop, Monday Mania, Tempt My Tummy, Made From Scratch, Tasty Tidbits, Tuesday At The Table, Tasty Tuesday, Tuesday Timeout, Handmade Tuesday, 2 Maids a Baking, Tuesday Kitchen Tips,  Totally Tasty Tuesday, Frugal Tip Tuesday, Tuesday Talent Show, Teach Me Tuesdays, Tiny Tip Tuesday,What's Cooking Wednesday, Its a Party!, Show and Tell, Recipe Swap, Works For Me Wednesday, Weekend Wander,Simply Delicious Saturday,Weekly Roundup, Feature Yourself Saturday,I Gotta Create, Strut Your Stuff Saturday, Saturday Link& Greet, Saturday Show & Tell, Say G'day Saturday, Not Bad Sunday, Potluck Party, Sunday Showcase, Dishing It Up, Savory Sunday, Sundae Scoop

Comments

  1. UnknownMonday, June 11, 2012

    Gotta try this! Sounds super yummy!! Pinning.

    ReplyDelete
  2. KateMonday, June 11, 2012

    Sounds yummy! Can't wait to try this! Visiting from Country Momma Cooks!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Michelle BTuesday, June 12, 2012

    Very frugal of you to use the bacon fat to cook the chicken! I like to see that.
    Thanks for linking up--this looks so, so good!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownWednesday, June 13, 2012

      Really gave the chicken a nice flavor without having to bread it and such :)

      Delete
  4. Julie EWednesday, June 13, 2012

    You've been features at Wednesday Whatsits! Thanks so much for sharing. :)
    http://whitelightsonwednesday.blogspot.com/2012/06/wednesday-whatsits-13.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownWednesday, June 13, 2012

      Yeah Julie! Thank you! And it is ok to skip the mushrooms!

      Delete
  5. Anna @ Feminine AdventuresWednesday, June 13, 2012

    That looks delicious! And as you said, *anything* made at home usually qualifies as thrifty compared to a restaurant meal... and is usually much healthier too!

    Thanks so much for linking up at Thrifty Thursday!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Six SistersWednesday, June 13, 2012

    This looks SO good! Our mom used to make a recipe kind of like this, but this actually looks better! (But we won't tell her that) Thanks for linking up with us on "Strut Your Stuff Saturday!" We hope to see you next week! -The Sisters

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownWednesday, June 13, 2012

      giggle...no do not tell mom that :) But I take the compliment! Thank you!

      Delete
  7. Diane BalchFriday, June 15, 2012

    Bacon, cheese, mushrooms... oh yeah and some healthy chicken. Sounds like it would go over well in my house. Please share this on my foodie friday party today.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Lisa@BlessedwithGraceSaturday, June 16, 2012

    This chicken recipe looks awesome!!! Thanks for sharing and linking to Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.

    ReplyDelete
  9. UnknownSaturday, July 07, 2012

    Used this recipe for this month's Crazy Cooking Challenge. Loved it!

    ReplyDelete

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