Ranch Chicken, Scalloped Potatoes, & Lemon Zest Broccoli

Like I said in my last post, my mom came into town for the weekend. I woke up early Saturday morning to get our day going and sure enough on FoodNetwork, "Big Daddy" was cooking up some delicious-looking broccoli. So, I jotted down the recipe and thought - hey, I've got it all in my pantry so I can give it a shot.

And Okay, I know I cook this ranch chicken a lot, but it's my favorite flavor on the chicken. If you want to mix it up a little bit, bake it with italian dressing or honey mustard on top.

You will need:

1 pound of chicken strips/breasts

1/2 package of ranch seasoning

1/2 cup of ranch dressing

3-4 cups of cut broccoli

3-5 tablespoons of olive oil
(depending on amount of broccoli you have)

5 teaspoons of lemon zest

Lemon Herbs

Garlic Powder

Salt/Pepper

Red Pepper

2 tablespoons of Flour

6-8 Medium potatoes

Shredded cheese

2 Cups of milk

3 tablespoons of butter (optional)

YESSSS, I know this sounds like a lot, but just understand that a lot of these ingredients are totally optional and strictly for a new flavor. You can easily cook the broccoli plain, or with just garlic powder, or with just a lemon herb sprinkle. You don't need it all, but like I said I was just trying something I saw on TV. Also, the scalloped potatoes have a million different recipes. I just wanted to be able to bake them in the oven and have a creamy outcome without actually having a sauce to buy and put on it. So I googled a simple way to do this and it involved flour, salt, pepper, cheese, milk and butter. Again, totally optional. You can easily cut calories, fat and sodium when you leave out half the things I have listed. :)

Let's get started:

1.  Start your potatoes first because they will take the longest > about 40 minutes in the oven @ 375. Slice n dice them into thin pieces. Grease up a big baking dish with butter or a lil oil or even some PAM! To the side in a small bowl, mix 2 tablespoons of flour, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1/8 teaspoon of pepper. Microwave heat 2 cups of milk for about 2-3 minutes. It needs to end up REALLY hot without bubbling out of the measuring cup like I did :)
2. Cover the bottom of the pan with the first layer of potatoes and then sprinkle half of the flour mixture on top. Then add the second layer of potatoes and sprinkle the other half of the flour mixture. Finally, top it with the third layer. Add the 3 tablespoons of butter (optional for taste and prevents burning) and pour the scolding milk over the top. Cover the dish with tin foil and bake. (After about 35-40 minutes, sprinkle shredded cheese on top and let it bake another 5-10 minutes)
3. With the chicken, nothing difficult here. I just stabbed the chicken like I was mad - so the ranch dressing soaks in deep during the baking process. I rolled them around in a tupperware with the dressing for about 3 minutes back n forth. Then I placed the strips on a baking sheet I covered in foil. Sprinkled a little bit of extra ranch seasoning on top which is optional for extra flavor, and baked in the oven maybe 15-20 minutes because my strips were relatively small and thin. Chicken bakes quickly.
4. In a skillet, add a few tablespoons of olive oil and saute the broccoli over medium heat. Sprinkle garlic powder, a little red pepper and lemon herb over the broccoli. Keep shaking and mixing the skillet so nothing sticks and burns too long. For extra flavor, I shaved a lemon down to the white layer of the peel. Just a few teaspoons of the yellow peel will really excentuate the taste. Try not to cook the broccoli longer than 8-10 minutes max just to keep the crunch!

That was a very simple meal. It's all about timing with the broccoli but everything else bakes on its own and when it's done, it's done. It's the kind of meal you can still watch your tv shows while the oven does the work. Broccoli can be saved to cook last because it could get cold if you make it too soon. My first try at this was a success and I'm sure anyone else can pull it off the same, if not better.

From my kitchen to yours, Enjoy!