Week 30: Recipe #1--Bacon Ranch Slowcooker Chicken

This recipe comes from Kelly's Healthified Kitchen (see link below).  It's pretty easy to throw together (in fact, my husband did this while I was at work today), and it tasted really good!  It is very similar to another recipe I've previously tried and posted:  Creamy Ranch Chicken .  I think I might like this one a bit better.  Plus, because it's cooked in the crockpot, the actual time spent making it was way less, and cleanup was easier, too.  We used turkey tenderloins instead of chicken breasts, and I recommend not using the full ranch packet, as it can tend to get too salty.  Other than that, I followed the recipe as it was.  I served this with a side of veggies and some fruit.  Makes 4 servings.

Photo from Kelly's Healthified Kitchen

You'll Need:

• 2 turkey bacon strips, cooked and shredded
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 1 pkg. ranch dressing mix (I recommend 1/2 to 3/4 of a packet to avoid oversaltiness)
• 1 can (10 3/4 oz.) condensed cream of chicken soup (98% fat free)
• 1 c. fat-free sour cream
• 16 oz. chicken breasts (or turkey), frozen or defrosted/raw (I put them in frozen)
• 8 oz. pasta, cooked (I used rigatoni, like the site recommended)

Preparation:

1. Combine the first five ingredients.  Place frozen or defrosted/raw chicken in crockpot sprayed with nonstick cooking spray and pour sauce over the top (do NOT include water like the can mentions).  
2. Cook on high for 3.5 hours.  Shred the chicken with two forks and place it back in the crockpot and mix in with the sauce.
3. Cook pasta per package instructions, then mix in the crockpot with the chicken and sauce.  

Recipe and link:  http://healthifiedkitchen.blogspot.com/2010/08/bacon-ranch-slowcooker-chicken.html