Chicken Concoction

Tonight was another night featuring mainly leftovers. We had a lot of leftover chicken, thanks to roasting a "roaster" instead of a skinny "fryer." I thought I knew what I'd be doing with it... a recipe from a menu-mailer that I used years ago, called Low Carb King Ranch Chicken. I'm not sure what real King Ranch Chicken is, but always liked this handy recipe that uses leftover chook.
So, it was dinner time, I whipped out my cookbook binder, flipped to the recipe, and... uh, oh... I don't have half those ingredients.

Hmmm.

Time to get creative.

It worked out well, and was even quite pretty to look at. Many a famous chef has implored the masses to remember that "we eat first with our eyes" so I'm glad it was pretty. I spend at least 10 seconds actually giving a crap about what dinner looks like (before sibling squabbling, growling guts, and setting the table take precedence)... so those were 10 happy seconds tonight.


Vaguely Mexican Chicken Skillet

Ingredients:

1-2 tablespoons bacon fat
1/2 onion, sliced thin
2 strips already-cooked bacon, chopped
about 1/2 cup canned roasted red bell pepper, chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
about 1/2 cup salsa
1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon spicy smoked paprika (or regular, but smoky is goooood)
1/2 cup or so chicken broth
1 - 2 cups cooked chicken, chopped or shredded
about half a jar marinated artichoke hearts
1/3 cup frozen corn kernels
2 handfuls baby spinach

If you want to serve it atop pasta (I'm thinking shells or rotini... to help grab the sauce), start the water boiling.
Cook the onion and bacon in bacon fat until the onion is very soft. Toss in the garlic, peppers, salsa, spices... stir. Add some chicken broth until it looks a bit saucy. Toss in the chicken and artichoke hearts. Put a lid on and reduce the heat a bit.
When the pasta is almost done, throw in the corn and stir. Add the spinach and DON'T stir... it'll steam on top of the other stuff, if you put the lid on. So... um... put the lid on. Dinner will be ready in just 2 or 3 minutes.

Oh, and in case you clicked on the menu mailer link above and thought "hey, that's a great idea, I want to get that"... don't. Well, it's your life, do whatever you want. But I highly recommend getting this one instead. It has much healthier food. And, no, I don't mean low-fat, low-flavor. I mean healthy.