Saturday, February 28, 2009

Chicken Ranchers

I made this on a whim last weekend. My parents called saying they were visiting my grandma, and decided they were coming to our place for lunch, so they gave me advanced (3 hours) notice that they wanted something good. Now, good to them means: something that they don't usually have at home. That sounds easy enough...except they don't like spices, heat or strong flavors. I raked my brain trying to think of recipes I'd seen on an Internet site or on the F00d Netw0rk, but couldn't come up with anything that they would like. So, I went through my freezer and decided to do an experiment. Here is my experiment:

1 lb. chicken breasts, diced and cooked in chicken broth (or you could use rotisserie chicken)
4 oz fat free cream cheese (or 1/3 less fat works, too)
A couple teaspoons dry ranch powder
roasted red pepper strips
1 puff pastry, defrosted
1 beaten egg

After cooking chicken in broth let cool in fridge, then dice. Mix cream cheese and ranch powder, let sit for 5 minutes so flavors may blend. Unroll puff pastry and with a rolling pin flatten the pastry so that there are no seams. Spread the pastry with the cream cheese mixture, then starting with the long end, cut the pastry into 4 strips. Place cooled, diced chicken on the strips and add roasted red peppers on top. Roll each strip jelly roll style (note: it will look like a cinnamon roll). Place in a greased pan, and brush with the beaten egg.

Cook at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Check to see if pastry is done, if not, place back into oven until pastry is cooked.

MY EXPERIMENT WORKED! Everyone loooooved this dish--although I did leave the roasted red peppers off of Mom and Dad's chicken rancher, but they said they would have loved it with them on as well. All week my mom has asked me about this dish. In fact, she was here again today (my grandma is in the hospital again) and she commented on it. So, it must be a keeper. I figure if both Mom and Dad are still talking about it after a week, I should write it down before I forget.

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