Bacon Cheese and Ranch Topped Chicken Breasts

Once upon a time I saw a recipe for bacon wrapped chicken with mozzarella and something else fancy I think - and considering I had a craving for bacon, chicken and cheese - I decided to was time to find it again. No luck. Not in any of my cookbooks, and not in any of my online searches. Sad. BUT, I did come across THIS recipe instead! It was delicious. Seriously - I know I've said that before, but this jumped to one of my top 10 favorites. Yup. That good. And usually bacon makes me ill - not the case this time. Score. Aaron loved it too, Olivia - well, not so much. She's not a big protein of any kind person though - unless it happens to be chicken nuggets.

I used sliced cheese, so mine looked different...but this is so you get the idea. :)

Ingredients:

3 chicken breast halves (boneless, skinless) - I used full chicken breasts and pounded them down to the same width.
5 slices of bacon
3 tbsp Ranch dressing
1 c grated cheese - I used sliced mozzarella instead.
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp garlic powder - I used my garlic grinder rather than powder.
parsley flakes (optional) - Totally forgot about this.
salt and pepper (to taste)
I also dusted each side with some flour, helps the chicken brown real nicely.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Wash the breast halves, dry them with a paper towel and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and garlic powder on all sides.
3. In a large skillet, heat 2 tbsp olive oil over medium-high heat. Sear each side of the chicken until golden brown, about 5 minutes each.
4. Slice up the bacon into bits (small squares). I just sliced my bacon (uncooked) in half and put 2 halves on each breast. When we ate it, we had to cut the bacon and the chicken, so I realize the value now of cutting up the bacon to start. :)
5. Transfer the breasts to the baking dish, previously greased with 1 tbsp olive oil.
6. Top each half breast with 1 tbsp Ranch Dressing.
7. Arrange the bacon bits on top.
8. Bake, uncovered, in preheated oven for about 30 minutes, then remove from the oven, top with cheese, sprinkle with parsley.
9. Bake for another 10 minutes until the cheese has melted and the top is golden brown. Remove from heat and let rest 3 minutes and serve.