Cheddar Chicken and Potatoes

This weekend I picked up our first bag of produce from the organic co-op I joined at our local Farmers’ Market.  I am so excited about all the yummy stuff in this week’s bag!  I ordered a small bag and got: lettuce, cilantro, green onions, 2 red bell peppers, 1 tomato, 2 avocados, butternut squash, 4 Fuji apples, and 2 red pears.  I’m especially looking forward to using the butternut squash.  The Littlest Apple gobbled down one of the red pears for snack this afternoon.  Here’s the loot:

We used the red peppers in tonight’s meal, which I’ve been looking forward to all week.  I love having breakfast for dinner, but I’m not too keen on eggs (and The Littlest Apple is allergic).  This dish has all those yummy breakfast flavors (minus eggs) with a little chicken thrown in too.  I absolutely loved this dish!  The Picky Apple liked it too but wished I hadn’t “carmelized” the onions and peppers (read: burnt) quite so much.  The Littlest Apple didn’t touch his, but that’s no big surprise.  I added some extra spices to the recipe, which kicked up the flavor even more.

Cheddar Chicken and Potatoes

adapted from Finding Joy in My Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 4 slices bacon
• 2 large chicken breasts, cut into 1/4″ thick slices
• 1 large potato, diced (approx 2 cups)
• 2 cups red peppers, diced
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 1/2 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper
• 4 ounces shredded Colby Jack cheese

Cook bacon in a skillet over medium heat until bacon is crunchy.  Remove bacon from skillet and place on a paper towel to de-grease. Then, remove almost all of the grease from the pan (less about 1 tsp.).  Saute the peppers, potatoes, onions, garlic, cumin, paprika, and cayenne in the 1 tsp. bacon grease for about 7 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.  Remove veggies from skillet and set aside.  If the skillet still contains grease, then just add the chicken. If not, add a few dribbles of bacon grease to aid in cooking the chicken.  Cook chicken over medium heat until juices run clear.  When chicken is cooked, return potatoes to the pan, and continue cooking potatoes/onions/peppers until crisp/tender. Then, crumble cooked bacon and add to the skillet. Stir to combine.  Sprinkle with cheese, and cover until cheese is melted.  Remove from heat and serve warm.