Casseroles could be considered to be one of my super powers. Or Supper Powers. :)

Comfort Food

Truly, I don’t believe too many foods give me a more cozy feeling than a nice casserole. Whether they are made with noodles, rice or potato. Whether they feature chicken, pork or beef. Hey, even my Mom has a delicious seafood casserole we all inhale at family functions.

Pintrest

Pintrest is a casserole lovers Mecca of deliciousness. I don’t have a problem with Pintrest control, really, but once I start down a road of Pintrest guided casserole recipes, someone better set a timer or nothing will get done around the house.

It’s all in a name

Chicken. Ranch. Potato Casserole. It’s pretty much got three of my favourite foods, so it had to be good, right? Of course Right.

Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs

This neat little video called for cooked chicken to start. Well, anyone who knows anything about cooking, knows that there are a few steps before “cooked chicken”, so that’s a bit of a sneaky start to a recipe. Cooked chicken requires deboning, cutting, and cooking, which can take a bit of time, especially the deboning thing. Which is also slimy and tricky and a pain in the… well, it’s just a pain.

Which is why I love to start with boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs. I know a lot of people use the breast, but the thighs are just simply juicier and tastier, and since the staff at Schinkels’ are really good at deboning, it’s not difficult, or slimy or tricky at all (for me, at least) to cut them up.

Bacon & Seasoning

For some reason, this recipe (must have been a typo) didn’t include Bacon, or Seasonings. Just cooked chicken and salt/pepper. So, I took it upon myself to correct that little oversight. I chopped up some Legacy Bacon and added a fair sprinkling of Joyful Lynns’ Sweet and Spicy. It’s got great flavour, with just a bit of sweet and just a bit of heat. Perfect combo, in my opinion. Then I cooked it all together with the chopped chicken and some chopped onions and green peppers in a large skillet. Added just a splash of white wine so it wouldn’t dry out.

Ranch Seasoning

Of course, the recipe called for Ranch Seasoning Packets, which I didn’t have (every recipe seems to have stuff I don’t have on hand), but I did have some good ol’ Ranch salad dressing in the fridge, so I just added some of that.

Potatoes

The recipe called for cooked potatoes, chopped up. Again, they seem to be missing a step or two. I find the easiest (and maybe tastiest) way to cook potatoes, is to toss them in olive oil and seasonings, and then bake on a cookie sheet at 425F until they are done. (no idea how long, sorry, I just keep poking them with a fork until they are tender crisp). After they are done, I just transferred them to a 9 x 13 casserole dish.

Topping Deliciousness

The the guy in the video sprinkled some cheddar shred over top. Ok, I know that is a great start, but really, just cheddar? How about adding some crunch, and some flavour? I took my cheddar shred and mixed it with some green onions and some crispy fried onions. Those are amazing and should really be added to just about any casserole, if you ask me. I’m not even getting paid to say it. I love French’s Crispy Fried Onions. In just about anything.

Then, the Layering

To layer or not to layer, that is always the question with casseroles. Sometimes casseroles are all jumbled up and everything is just all topsy turvy. Might taste ok, but something about a nice, organized, layered casserole makes me smile.

Layer #1 – Roasted Potatoes

Layer #2 – Chicken Ranch Mixture

Layer #3 – Topping

That’s it.

Oh, right, the baking. Almost it. General rule of thumb for my casseroles is always 350F for 45 minutes, and maybe an hour if it was frozen.

Then the eating….

Recipe Here. Not the Pintrest recipe. That one wasn’t actually all that good (Except the name)