Alice Springs Chicken

My favorite dish (maybe also the only one I've ever ordered) from Outback Steakhouse is the Alice Springs Chicken.  I've looked online several times in the past and have been unable to find a copy cat recipe.  Until I found this one.  Super excited to finally find a recipe, I gave it a go and was not disappointed. It was pretty easy to make and, although this is not Outback's exact recipe, it comes pretty darn close.  Close enough that I'll be making it again.  I'm not even going to try to tweak it to make it closer to Outback's -- it's that close. 

Slightly Adapted From:  The Finer Things In Life

What You Will Need:
4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts, pounded to 1/2 inch thickness
Seasoning Salt to Taste
6 Slices of Bacon, cut in half
1/4 Cup Mustard
1/3 Cup Honey
2 Tbsp Mayonnaise 
2 Tsps Onion Powder
1 Cup Fresh White Button Mushrooms, sliced
2 Cups Shredded Colby Jack Cheese

Here's What You Do:
1.  Sprinkle season salt on the chicken breasts and rub in well.  Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. 

2.  While the chicken is in the refrigerator, cook your bacon (I baked mine).  Save the bacon grease. 

3.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

4.  Saute the chicken in the bacon grease for about 5 minutes per side (until browned).  As you cook each piece of chicken, place the cooked chicken in a 9 x 13 baking dish.

5.  In a bowl, mix the mustard, honey, mayo, and onion powder.  Apply this mixture to each chicken breast. 

6.  Place a layer of mushrooms, bacon, and shredded cheese on each chicken breast. 

7.  Bake the chicken for about 30 minutes, or the cheese is melted and the chicken is completely cooked through.   

8.  Serve the chicken with the remaining honey mustard sauce that you made in step 5. 

I served my Alice Springs Chicken with garlic mashed potatoes and green bean casserole.   It was delicious!

Enjoy!

Breakfast Pizza

Sometimes, I have leftover pizza for breakfast.  Sometimes, I have leftover breakfast for dinner.  Pizza and breakfast food are two of my favorite things.  The only logical thing to do, then, is to marry the two together, right?  Right.  And, that is exactly what I did.  You can thank me later.

What you need:
1 Pizza Dough*
1 Can of Sausage Gravy
1/2 Lb. cooked breakfast meat of your choosing (I used bacon)
6 Eggs, scrambled
1 1/2 Cups shredded cheddar cheese
Any veggie toppings you want on your pizza ( I added mushrooms)

*I make my own pizza dough using a recipe that I haven't been authorized to share.  You can always pick up a pre-made crust at the store or you can buy a can of pizza dough just like a can of biscuits and cook the dough yourself.

What you need to do:
1.  Cook and drain your breakfast meat and scramble your eggs.

2.  Preheat your oven according to the directions on your pizza dough.  Prepare your pizza dough and lay it out on your baking stone or pizza pan, but do not bake the dough.

3.  Spread a generous amount of sausage gravy on top of your cooked pizza crust (as if it were pizza sauce).

4.  Sprinkle your cooked breakfast meat on top of the sausage gravy.

5.  Sprinkle scrambled eggs on top of the sausage gravy and meat.

6.  Sprinkle any veggie toppings on top of the other toppings.

7.  Sprinkle shredded cheese on top of the pizza.

8.  Bake according to pizza dough directions. 

Enjoy!

Baked Potato Casserole

I used to have the. most. delicious. recipe for baked potato casserole.  Now I can't find it.  If you've ever had a good baked potato casserole, you understand my devastation.  If you haven't, let me explain . . . 


Baked potato casserole is an amazing creation that everybody loves.  The recipe always makes about one million servings, so it's great for large gatherings (think -- holidays), or if you just feel like only cooking once this week (helloooooo college!).  It's a comfort food that compliments pretty much everything.  Or, it can be eaten as a meal by itself.  


Anyhow, I decided I wanted to make baked potato casserole for a work Thanksgiving luncheon.  That is when I discovered that I could find my recipe.  Devastation ensued.  Then I googled it.  I found Emeril's recipe, which definitely isn't my recipe, but it's at least kinda close.  And, it ended up tasting pretty good, so I scored. 


If I am ever reunited with my recipe, I'll post it here.  Hopefully, I'll find it when I finally get to move into my house and unpack (I promise I'm not making that up -- it will happen).  Until then, this will have to do. 


Adapted from Emeril


Here's what you need:

• 5 Lbs Red Potatoes
• 8 Tablespoons (1 stick) plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 Cup sour cream
• 1 & 1/2 Cups heavy whipping cream
• 2 Teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 Teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 1 Lb Bacon, cooked until crip and crumbled
• 1/2 Lb sharp Cheddar, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 3/4 Lbs mild Cheddar, grated (3 cups)
• 1/2 cup finely chopped green onions
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• Additional butter for baking dish
• Additional sour cream for garnishing
• Additional diced green onions for garnishing
• Sliced black olives for garnishing

Here's what you do:

1.  Peel and cube the potatoes.

2.  Boil the potatoes until they are fully cooked. 

3.  Drain potatoes and put them in a large bowl.

4.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. 

5.  Add butter, sour cream, whipping cream, salt, and pepper to potatoes.  Mash until desired consistency. 

6.  Add 3/4 lb bacon, sharp cheddar cubes, half of the grated cheddar, green onions, and eggs.  Mix thoroughly.

7. Butter a 9 x 13 casserole dish.  Spoon the potato mixture into the baking dish. 

8.  Top with remaining shredded cheddar cheese.

9.   Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until bubbly around the edges and heated through and the cheese on top is melted and lightly golden. 

     Hint:  I halved the recipe and put part of it in a smaller baking dish and 

    part of it in a crock pot.  I refrigerated it over night and then  I took the 

    crock pot to work for the luncheon.  I cooked the potatoes on high for 

    about 3 hours and it was cooked all the way through.  It tasted just like 

    the pan that I had baked in the oven the night before.

10.  Garnish with additional sour cream, black olives and green onions. 

Enjoy!

Bacon Ranch Chicken

I've made this recipe for years.  It is super simple and the chicken tastes delicious.  I've made this chicken on the grill outside, on the indoor kitchen grill, and in the oven.  You just can't go wrong, in my opinion.

Here's what I used:

2 Large Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
1 Ranch Dip Mix, dry

8 Pieces of Bacon

Shredded Colby Jack Cheese

Here's what I did:

1.  Sliced the chicken breasts into four pieces each (for a total of 8 chicken strips).  You could skip this step and buy boneless skinless chicken tenders.

2.  Rubbed the dry ranch dip mix on the outside of the pieces of chicken.

3.  Wrapped one piece of bacon around each chicken breast.  I secured the bacon with a toothpick so it didn't fall off while being cooked.

4.  Grilled for about 10 minutes.  Make sure the chicken is cooked all the way through before you take it off the grill.  Cut a piece in half if you need to in order to make sure its cooked through.  Be careful not to overcook the chicken, though, or you'll end up with dry chicken.  If you would like to cook the chicken in the oven, put the chicken in a glass baking dish and bake at 350 degrees until the chicken in cooked through.

5.  Sprinkled shredded cheese on top of the chicken as soon as it is removed from the grill/oven.

Enjoy!