Secret Recipe Club - Country Club Chicken

Oh my gosh, I am in trouble this month! I was excited, as always, to get my e-mail announcing who my Secret Recipe Club blogger would be for June and when I linked over to Colie's Kitchen the very FIRST thing I saw was a recipe for a Mug Brownie?! Need I look any further??! Well, yes, of course I had to open the recipe index up to see what other goodies I might find... oh dear. I began to see the entire month of June's Meal Plans forming out of Nicole's recipes! WOW!!

Reading Nicole's "About Me" page made me smile, over and over - I felt like I could have just copied and pasted most of what she wrote about aiming to make dinner every night, but life gets in the way sometimes, not dieting, but trying to eat well and healthier, not liking cleaning, but disliking a dirty house - yep, yep, and yep!! :)

So, as I was browsing through the fantastic Recipe Index, several things jumped out at me including the Baked Spaghetti, Melt-in-Your-Mouth Meatballs and Gravy, Easy Cheesesteak Sandwiches, Country Club Chicken, Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal, and the Trash Can Spiral Omelet - oh my!!

I have actually made a couple of Nicole's recipes now, but the one I want to share today is the absolutely delicious Country Club Chicken! This is a slightly labor intensive recipe, but once you have the sauce completed, you set the chicken to bake, make some pasta and you're all set to go! The flavor is incredible and we all LOVED this recipe! The bacon, mushroom, and onions are great additions and really give you a great array of taste and textures to enjoy. I completely forgot there was canned soup in the sauce as we were eating it - it's just yummy!! I scaled down the amount of pasta called for, but other than that pretty much stuck to the original recipe. It is perfect! I didn't need to add any butter to my pan for browning the chicken, as I had plenty of bacon grease, so that is totally optional depending on how much grease you have left in your pan after cooking your bacon.

Country Club Chicken slightly adapted from Colie's Kitchen 

Serves: 4

Ingredients

8-oz spaghetti

4 chicken breasts halves (about 1 - 1 1/2 lbs total)

1 large onion

7-oz fresh mushrooms (about 6 large)

1 can cream of mushroom soup

5 slices thick cut bacon

1/4 cup white wine

2/3 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

Beef Bouillon cube (or 1 tsp bouillon)

butter (if needed)

Salt and pepper

Directions

1. Mince the onion and clean and slice the mushrooms then set aside.
2. Season the chicken breasts with a generous amount of salt and pepper and set aside.
3. Cook the bacon until it just starts to get crispy, remove from pan and place on paper towels to absorb excess grease. Don’t clean out the pan, the bacon drippings are important!
4. Add butter to the drippings (if needed) and quickly brown the chicken breasts on both sides (about 4-5 minutes per side), then transfer them to a small casserole dish (just large enough to fit chicken plus sauce).
5. Add onions to the skillet and cook for about five minutes.
6. Next add the sliced mushrooms, and allow them to sauté for a few minutes, then season lightly with salt and pepper.
7. Chop the bacon into large, bite-sized pieces and add to the skillet, the beef bouillon cube (crumbled), and add in the wine. Stir to combine.
8. Add in the cream of mushroom soup and mix in well. Next add in sharp cheddar and stir until well blended, and the cheese has melted into the sauce. 
9. Next pour the sauce over the chicken breasts so that they are well coated.
10. Put the casserole, uncovered, in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes, or until the chicken is completely cooked through and the sauce is hot and bubbly.
11. While your chicken is cooking, cook spaghetti per the package directions and then drain and set aside until needed.
12. Once your spaghetti and chicken are ready, place a serving of spaghetti on a plate, top with a chicken breast, and cover with sauce.