Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Recipe: Julie's Loaded Chicken

A few weeks ago on a Sunday night when I didn't feel like cooking, John and I got takeout from Colton's Steakhouse. I'm not sure, but I think Colton's is a regional chain in the Southern U.S. I scoured the menu beforehand and decided on something called Colton's Loaded Chicken. Outback Steakhouse has a similar dish called Alice Springs Chicken. This is how it's described on Colton's menu: "A juicy grilled chicken breast covered in sautéed mushrooms, bacon, green onions, and a blend of cheeses. Served with honey mustard sauce."

My description? DELICIOUS. I chose this dish not only because it sounded amazing, but because I knew I could easily make two meals out of it. The calorie count per meal, however, hovered right around 400. Way higher than what comfortably fits into my daily total.

So I decided to revamp this recipe a bit and what do you know....success! 278 calories and 36.2g protein per serving. Here's how I did it.

The cast of characters. Skinless, boneless chicken breasts, center cut bacon, Kraft 2% Mexican Blend, canned mushrooms, Newman's Own Lite Honey Mustard Dressing.
First, I pan fried the bacon until it was not quite crispy and drained it on paper towels to soak up any extra grease. I used Petit Jean bacon for my version...it's a local product, but Oscar Mayer Center Cut bacon would be a great choice. I calculated the nutrition stats for this recipe using one slice of Oscar Mayer bacon per 4 oz. chicken breast.
After I cooked the bacon, I drained the grease and wiped out the skillet. In this same pan, I cooked the chicken breasts...about 4 or 5 minutes on each side until done.
Oh! And I seasoned the chicken breasts with this:
 
It gave them incredible flavor!

I know that some Bandsters don't do well with mushrooms. If that's you, you might want to skip this step. As we all know, my band is NOT fickle. And I love mushrooms. These are already cooked, so I basically just pushed them around the skillet a bit to warm them up. I also gave them a dash of the Montreal Chicken Seasoning. I think next time I'll add a little splash of Worcestershire Sauce too. That was John's suggestion. :)
After that, all that's really left is the assembly. First the chicken breast, then the bacon slice, then about a half cup of sauteed mushrooms, then a 1/4 cup shredded cheese. I cound not get over how much cheese 28 grams actually is. I weighed it on my trusty kitchen scale. You could easily use less than this, but I was going for indulgent.

Put everything under the broiler until every thing is nice and melty.

Before:

After:
You can serve it with a tablespoon of the Honey Mustard dressing on the side, but I prefer to pour it right on top. Yum.
The nutrition info is for:
1 four ounce boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 slice Oscar Mayer Center Cut bacon
1/2 cup canned mushrooms
1/4 cup (28g) Kraft 2% Mexican Blend Cheese
1 T. Newman's Own Light Honey Mustard
This is the best 278 calories I've had in a long time. And check out that protein!

I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I did. If you make it, let me know.

Thanks for reading!

8 comments:

  1. I'm not a fan of mushrooms but I will def be trying this without! I love Alice Springs Chicken from Outback, but obviously haven't had it in forever!

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    1. Yay! I hope you like it! You'll have to let me know. I've never had the Outback version, but if it's like everything else they make, I'm sure it's delicious. The Outback in Little Rock always has like a 1 and a half hour wait. People love it!

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  2. I've never heard of Colton's, but that's not to say it doesn't exist in NC, just not near Raleigh or Charlotte! Of course as soon as I typed that I had to look it up, and the closest one is in TN.

    I LOVE Alice Springs Chicken, but sometimes they overcook the chicken and then I can't eat it. So I'm going to try making this at home.

    My band doesn't have an issue with mushrooms, thankfully because I looooove them soooo much! I think I'll use fresh ones though, not a fan of canned. Ha, one thing my band doesn't have a problem with! I better be quiet, she's going to hear me and prove me wrong.

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    1. Oh yeah...it would be MUCH better with fresh. Mmmmmm...maybe even portabellos. You've given me an idea for next time.

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  3. OMG that looks wonderful. Another one of your receipes for me to try :) thanks so much for sharing

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    1. I hope you like! BTW...I thought of you today when I was at Kroger buying 5 packets of the French's Chili-O seasoning. There is NO substitute! :)

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  4. That looks deeeelish. I will have to make this.

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    1. I was surprised at how well it turned out. It's going into the regular rotation fo' sho. :)

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