Chicken Veggie Casserole With BACON

A tasty and fairly healthy choice for dinner

Step 1: The Goodies

I'm trying to cook smaller portions to control leftovers, that being said the ingredients I used made enough to feed 4, especially if a salad and bread is provided

 I have 5 chicken tenders
 half a large sweet potato diced and frozen
 half a zuccini diced and frozen
 2 small summer squash diced and frozen
 4-5 small red potatoes diced
  half a medium red onion diced
 7 slices of low sat bacon
 1/2 a block of sharp chedder cheese, shredded

Step 2: The Spice of Life

Notice there is no salt listed, you can add it if you must, but this is my heart healthy meal and it's not really missed

smoked paprika 1/2 tspn
poultry seasoning 1 tspn
 italian seasonong 1 tspn
ground cumin  1 tspn
ground mustard 2 tspn
dried garlic flakes 2 tspn
mrs dash chicken seasoning 1.5 tspn
2 tablespoons red vinager
 olive oil

Step 3: BACON

My one dietary extragavance is the bacon. However my local grocery had this low sodium bacon on sale, 2lbs for $4.00, each pound got broken into 5 servings and individually bagged before being frozen. Remove as much air as possible to prevent freezer burn and place the indivual bags in a main bag.

 to cook the bacon I decided to get creative  and bake it but I needed a way to raise the bacon so it drained, I dug out a slotted rack that almost fit the top of the baking dish and even leaned a little to help drainage, I added a 1/4 cup of water and 2 teaspoons of liquid smoke laid the bacon on the rack and baked  at 350f until almost done

Step 4: The Chicken

My local grocery had chicken tenders 2 for $4.98, I bagged 3 servings of 5 tenders each from each package, thats 6 meals.

 Marinade. put smoked paprika 1/2 tspn, poultry seasoning 1 tspn, italian seasonong 1 tspn,ground cumin 1 tspn,ground mustard 2 tspn,dried garlic flakes 2 tspn,mrs dash chicken seasoning 1.5 tspn, 2 tablespoons red vinager and about 3tablespoons of olive oil in a bowl and stir to mix

is that a tendon or a vein in the tender? I don't know or care but it gets cut out! Then I cut the tenders into bite size pieces and added to the marinade

Step 5: Potatoes

I'm adding a step I didn't do because I didn't consider that some of the veggies had been frozen and the potatoes were fresh but the dressing is for ALL the veggies

 In a bowl combine 1 teaspoon of italian seasoning, 1 tspn of smoked paprika, 1/2 tspn ground cumin and 2 tspns of mrs dash onion and herb seasoning ina bowl with 3 tablespoons of olive oil

 dice the potatoes into bite sized pieces, toss in the marinade and microwave for 5 minutes

Step 6: Veggies

allow the potatoes to cool a bit then add the rest of your vegetables, tossing to coat everything

Step 7: Cooking Phase 1

Mix the vegatables and marinated chicken, yes I'm using the same baking dish I cooked the bacon over after removing about half of the liquid and drippings, add the precooked  bacon to the top . Place in a 350f oven for 20-30 minutes or until all vegetables are tender

Step 8: Cooking Phase II

Shred about half a block of cheese, you can use preshredded but I don't think it melts the same, sprinkle over the casserole and return to the oven until melted

Step 9: Dinner Time

Sorry these pictures turned out terrible for some reason

 I served it with a side salad of baby greens and pickled red onions (sliced red onions, 1/2 cup of red wine vinager, microwave for 3 minutes ) and garlic toast

 total cost per serving was between $1.50 and $2.00 with a sodium content around 10% of daly total allowance