Cheesy Chicken With Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad #Recipe With Kraft Fresh Take – #KraftFreshTake #RecipeChallenge

We'd love it if you shared it!

I enjoy coming up with new meal ideas, or concocting as we call it around here. Recently Kraft Foods challenged me to Make Something Amazing with #KraftFreshTake. I was invited me to participate in the Fresh Take Flavor Makers program, a program where participants are challenged to create different meals using one Kraft Fresh Take variety. The item I will be using for the challenge is the Kraft Fresh Take Classic Four Cheese variety. The Classic Four Cheese variety is a mixture of Colby, Cheddar, Monterey Jack and Mozzarella cheeses – four of my favorites.

CHALLENGE

1.Must include a protein, vegetable and carbohydrate in the meal
2.Meal can double as a packable lunch for your family
3.Make the meal an easy weeknight creation

For me the challenge was coming up with something that doubled as packable. To me packable means already cooked and ready to eat, and ideally requiring no warming. So I was thinking basically I needed to come up with a food that was tasty when served hot, but also one that could be grabbed cold and eaten in the car. You know, something for that run between dance and football, or whatever stops you make with your kids on a regular basis. Now, this particular variety of Kraft Fresh Take suggests ground beef or turkey. I thought of a number of different yummy hot dishes, but none that screamed packable or picnic to me. I also wanted to be sure it was something that the kids would want to eat. Which got me to thinking I wanted to do something with chicken.

Here’s what I came up with. It tastes just as good hot as it does cold.

Cheesy Chicken With Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad Recipe With Kraft Fresh Take

INGREDIENTS

• 1x package Kraft Fresh Take Classic Four Cheese variety
• 1.5 lbs thin sliced chicken breast or chicken tenders
• 1 lb pasta (shells or twists would be best, I used elbows this time around)
• 1x 16 oz sour cream and onion dressing (or 16 oz sour cream mixed with 1 packet onion soup mix
• 10-12 oz bag frozen steamable peas
• 2x 1 oz package ranch dip mix
• 1/2 cup crumbled bacon (I get it by the bag at BJ’s, they also have it in small jars at the grocery store)

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 350.
Cover a large baking sheet with foil (or whatever you cover yours with).
Boil the pasta.

While pasta is boiling, cut chicken breast into smaller pieces or tenders (unless you’re starting with tenders).

Open the Kraft Fresh Take and combine the two pouches.

Using a meat tenderizer, break up the larger chunks in the Kraft Fresk Take bag. The breading is already pretty finely ground, the purpose of doing this is to make the large chunks of cheese a little smaller.

Dip the chicken pieces into water and then place in Kraft Fresh Take bag to coat. Make sure they’re fully coated. My youngest was helping me and was very pleased with himself for coating the chicken a little.

Place coated pieces of chicken onto baking sheet.

Bake chicken for about 25 minutes, or until coating is crisping.

You will have some cheese  and breadcrumbs left in the bag. Don’t get rid of it, you need it.

By now the pasta should be about done. Remove it from heat and drain.

Cook peas in the microwave according to the instructions. Mine took 5 minutes.

Place pasta back in the pot.

Add the sour cream to the pasta and stir well.

Add the 2 packages of ranch dip mix to the pot and stir well.

Add the remaining cheese from the Kraft Fresh Take package.

Stir well until the cheese has melted.

Add the bacon and stir well.

Add the peas and stir well.

Heat the whole pot for about 5 minutes. Your chicken should be about finished cooking by now.

Remove the chicken from the oven.

Serve with the pasta and enjoy.

Kraft Fresh Take is available in six varieties:

• Southwest Three Cheese
• Italian Parmesan
• Rosemary & Roasted Garlic
• Cheddar jack & Bacon
• Savory Four Cheese
• Chili Lime & Panko

Kraft Fresh Take has a suggested retail price of $2.99.

I’m currently facing a new challenge using the Kraft Fresh Take Classic Four Cheese variety so be sure to check back and see what I’ve come up with. I’ll also be having a really great, fun giveaway that you won’t want to miss. For now, I’d love to know how what your favorite variety of Kraft Fresh Take is or which you’d most like to try.

MORE INFO

Kraft Foods on Facebook

Kraft Recipes on Pinterest

I received a gift card in order to facilitate my post. Please note that, as always, any personal opinions reflected in this post are my own and have not been influenced by the sponsor in any way.