Ranch Chicken Sandwiches

Way back when I started this blog over a year ago, one of the first things I planned to post were these sandwiches. Because they're awesome. And then I didn't and then the Cheap Eat Challenge came and we couldn't afford to make them and then I kind of forgot about them. Until a week ago when I threw some Ranch dressing on some chicken in a skillet. Suddenly I remembered them. Suddenly I wanted them. Desperately.

Now you can desperately want them too. You're welcome.

P.S. Don't let the chicken breasts and spinach deceive you. This isn't low-fat.

Ranch Chicken Sandwiches
Makes 4 sandwiches
Prep and cook time: 20-30 minutes
Cost: $4.70 plus what you pay for buns--$5.50
(chicken: 3.00, bacon: .50, ranch: .70, spinach: .50)

Note: One of the great things about this recipe is that you can use leftover chicken in it if you've got it--it'll still suck up the flavors of the sauce. If you don't have it, don't despair, because this is still uber fast to make.

Note on Ranch dressing: You can probably use any kind of Ranch dressing to good effect. However, we generally use "homemade" Ranch dressing, which means we use the powdered stuff mixed in with mayo and milk per the instructions on the package. However, if you want to have the very very best Ranch mixture, this is what you should do. Mix one package Ranch Dip (not dressing) with 1 C milk and 1 C mayo. It'll be a runny sort of "dressing." We discovered this by accident when I bought dip once instead of dressing, and it is the best. I don't know why it's better than regular Ranch, but it is.

2 chicken breasts, cut into bit sized-cubes
4 strips bacon
Ranch dressing (see note above), about 1/2-1 C, though I never measure
4 C spinach, chopped or shredded by hand
4 rolls, bagels, or hamburger buns
mayo, pesto, and/or cheddar (optional)

In a skillet, cook bacon until fairly crisp. Remove bacon from pan, but leave those lovely drippings.

Cook cubed chicken in the bacon drippings for a couple of minutes. Add Ranch dressing to the chicken and stir it around to coat the chicken. Stir this every minute or so until the chicken is entirely cooked (the dressing will get a little brown as it cooks with the chicken and some of the oils may separate out of the dressing, so don't freak out if that happens. You want your chicken to be brown at the end, not to have a coating of white Ranch dressing on it).

Throw spinach in the skillet and cook a minute or two more until it is wilted. Crumble bacon and add it back to the pan.

Scoop out the chicken mixture and put it on your sandwich bun of choice (we used a whole wheat version of these rolls, which were awesome. We also like bagels or sandwich buns or even hamburger buns). You can toast your roll first or not; both are good.

If you aren't completely freaked out by the amount of fat you've already witnessed in your pan (embrace it my friends; and serve the sandwiches with a big salad--that should make you feel better), you can put mayonnaise on your bun with a little cheddar, which is delicious. The other thing I really love with these sandwiches is a bit of pesto spread on the bun. Alternately, if you don't have pesto, you could throw a handful of well-chopped basil leaves and a chopped clove of garlic into the skillet when you add the spinach. If you like basil, this is very very butt-kickingly delicious, so do it, okay. Even if you hate basil, you might like this because it's subdued, but still delicious.

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