Featured Friday – Part Time House Wife

I am more than happy to introduce you to this week’s Co-Host for Featured Friday!! Lauren is the inspiration behind The Part Time Housewife. I remember coming across Lauren’s blog when I first started reaching out to fellow bloggers to start Featured Friday’s. I loved her site for one and of course her name because it’s my daughter’s middle name! Lauren is married to her best friend, she loves cooking from scratch, trying new recipes and living a healthy well-balanced life. Besides the kitchen Lauren also spends a lot of time running half marathons! You go girl! Me not so much! However, like me, she loves eating chocolate and drinking wine….A LOT of wine. That’s my kind of girl! How can you not love her already! You’ll love her even more once you take a look at some of her recipes…hello Homemade Peanut Butter! WOW! Ok so I decided to make Lauren’s BBQ Bacon & Cheesy Stuffed Chicken! Holy yumminess in just the name!! I did have to substitute a few things but but hey cheese is cheese to me!! I also had frozen chicken marinated in BBQ sauce in my freezer so it worked out perfectly!! Scroll down for another treat…….I made another one of Lauren’s recipes!!!

INGREDIENTS:

2 Large Chicken Breasts {Mine weighed 1.25 lbs for both}

1 Triangles of Laughing Cow Light Garlic & Herb Cheese

8 Slices of Turkey Bacon- Uncooked

4 Slices of 2% Munster Cheese (I used Mozzarella Cheese)

2 Slices of 2% American Cheese –Halved

½ Cup of Your Favorite BBQ Sauce {Ours is Sweet Baby Rays}

HOW-TO’S:

Pre-Heat oven to 400°F

Butterfly chicken breasts by slicing the breast in half, starting at the thickest part of the breast.

Spread a half of a triangle of Laughing Cow cheese on the top of the breast. (I had triangles of swiss so I used what I had on hand but I’ve had all of them and they all would work nice here!)

Fold 2 slices of bacon in half and place them on top of the laughing cow cheese layer. Top with a slice of Munster (I used American Cheese here as well) split in 2.

Bring both sides up to the center to form a roll. Place in an oven safe baking dish with the “seam” on the bottom.

Brush chicken rolls with generous amounts of BBQ Sauce.

Once your rolls are saucy top them with a half a slice of American.

Cover dish with foil and bake about 30 minutes. Uncover and continue to bake about 10-15 minutes longer until cheese is golden brown and inside temp reads at least 170° F.

Something about chicken, bacon and cheese that just go together!!!! WOW!!!

My pictures suck for some reason, I apologize, not sure if I was rushed or just had a bad night but usually they are better than this……..I served it with corn on the grill with an herbed oil. (Don’t ask how that came out, it was the first time I tried that, grilling may just be my hubby’s job!)

Look at that center!! Holy cheesy goodness!! The taste of the cheese, bacon and chicken just all came together, I will surly be making this dish again!!

My husband rated it a 10!!! Oh sweet Lauren, that is a HUGE complement in his book, I’ve only gotten a 10 I think with 2 dishes!! Thank you for sharing this recipe with my family! Oh I had to include this picture because I thought it was cute that it fit perfectly in my tuperware for my husbands lunch the next day!

I decided to make another one of Lauren’ts recipes because I couldn’t decide and I had the ingredients on hand! I made the Skinny version of Taco Bell’s Mexican Pizza! Here goes!!!!

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS:

(Most of these ingredients are estimates, you can add more or less depending on your taste)

12 Small Flour Tortillas (2 per Pizza) I only made 2.

1.25 lbs Lean Ground Turkey Meat (I used 1 lb and have left overs)

3 Tbsp. Homemade Taco Seasoning or 1 Packet of store bought.

2 Tbsp. Water

1 15 oz Can Fat Free Refried beans or Homemade (Heated through)

1 Cup Reduced-Fat Shredded Mexican Blend Cheese

½ Cup Taco Bell Restaurant Sauce

HOW-TO’S:

Pre-heat oven to 425°F

Using a steak knife poke tons of tiny little holes into each tortilla.

Spray both sides of each tortilla with cooking spray, or spray olive oil. Place each tortilla on a foil lined baking sheet careful not to overlap to much.  (You may have to do these in a few batches). I used just tinfoil because I left my only baking sheet at our summer camp! Whoopsy!

Bake each tortilla about 6 minutes, flip them and then bake about 2 more minutes. Watch and flip as they turn a nice golden brown. Cool on a wire rack and Set aside and leave the oven at 425°F Meanwhile brown turkey meat and add Taco Seasoning and 2 Tbsp. Water.

Let simmer until cooked through.  Set Aside. Spread warmed beans onto a baked tortilla.  Top with seasoned taco meat.

Place another tortilla on top of the meat.

Spoon about 3 Tbsp. of the restaurant sauce evenly onto the top of the tortilla. Top with cheese.

Repeat the steps for the remaining ingredients.

Bake each “Pizza” for about 3-5 minutes or until cheese has melted. You could also put them under the broiler but buyers beware…WATCH them like a hawk.

Remove from oven once cheese is melty and oozy. Let cool slightly, top with your favorite toppings ie, Sour Cream, Guacamole, Salsa etc..

Oh and of course enjoy!!!

Enjoy even more once cutting into it!!!!!!