Sprinkle of Country

Everyone Needs A Little Country In Their Kitchen
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    • Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad

      Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad

      Posted at 11:45 am by Rebecca Showalter
      Jan 28th

      Coming up with sides for carry ins on the fly can be interesting, some of the recipes work and some of them just don’t. This is one recipe I keep making over and over, surprisingly it started out as a scrimmage through my pantry for a church carry in dish. This Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad is a great dish to have for lunch or a side for dinner! The best part is many of these ingredients you may already have in your pantry or fridge. Plus it pairs great with the air fryer hamburgers I made for dinner!

      Preparation

      I start out by frying up or to take the easy way microwaving both pieces of bacon to crumble. You can also use bacon bits or skip the bacon if you don’t have any on hand, but I find this really brings the dish together and adds in just a little extra flavor.

      Fried bacon ready to crumble for the ranch pasta salad.
      Fried bacon ready to crumble for the ranch pasta salad.

      Then start boiling the water for the noodles. While I wait on the water to boil, I drain the canned chicken. Then pour out the canned chicken into a frying pan to cook with a small amount of water (about 1/8 of a cup) over medium heat. Even though the canned chicken is precooked, I still prefer to cook the chicken myself. This step could be skipped if you feel comfortable just dumping in the can of chicken. Once the chicken appears a white color and no longer pink, remove from heat to cool.

      Canned chicken heating up on the stove. ​
      Canned chicken heating up on the stove.
      Elbow pasta cooking.
      Elbow pasta cooking.

      Now it is time to cook your noodles. Once the water is boiling dump in the noodles and cook them to the package directions. I prefer my noodles to be fully cooked so I generally cook them for the full time listed on the package.

      While the noodles are cooking it’s time to mix up your ranch dressing mix. I prefer to use the hidden valley dry mix and mix the dressing myself with milk and mayonnaise. Regular ranch dressing can be substituted.

      Using a whisk to mix your ranch dressing mixture can help to make it smoother.
      Using a whisk to mix your ranch dressing mixture can help to make it smoother.

      Place the ranch mixture into the fridge to cool and drain your noodles when the time is up. Then make sure to cool your noodles with cold water, this will also stop the cooking process.

      Mixing

      Once all your ingredients are cooked and ready it’s time to dump everything into a large mixing bowl together! The bacon, elbow noodles, chicken, and ranch are all mixed together to make this great Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad.

      Combining the ingredients for the ranch pasta salad. ​
      Combining the ingredients for the ranch pasta salad.

      Serving your Ranch Pasta Salad

      Once all ingredients are mixed together you will notice this pasta salad seems almost soupy, but after setting up for a few hours it will become more firm and perfect. If you notice it becomes too dry you can always add a little ranch or milk to moisten it up. This recipe makes about 6 meal sized servings or 8-10 side sized servings.

      Meal prep dishes for chicken bacon ranch pasta salad. ​
      Meal prep dishes for chicken bacon ranch pasta salad.

      This is a great meal to prep for lunches for the week, since it contains a good amount of protein. However I wouldn’t advise to freeze this dish. It will keep well for 1 week in the refrigerator.

      Ingredients

      2 pieces of thick cut bacon

      1 cup elbow noodles

      1 12.5 oz canned white meat chicken

      3.5 Tablepoons Ranch Seasoning Mix

      1 Cup Milk

      1 1/4 Cup Mayonnaise

      Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad

      Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad

      A wonderful blend of chicken salad and pasta salad with a ranch kick.
      Print Recipe Pin Recipe
      Prep Time 25 mins
      Cook Time 10 mins
      Servings 6 servings
      Calories 395 kcal

      Equipment

      • stove top

      Ingredients
        

      • 1 Cup Elbow Noodles
      • 12.5 Oz Canned White Meat Chicken
      • 1 Cup Milk
      • 1.25 Cup Mayonnaise
      • 3.5 Tablespoons Ranch Dressing Mix
      • 2 pieces Thick Sliced Bacon

      Instructions
       

      • 1. Cook bacon in the microwave or fry on the stove to crumble.
      • 2. Boil water and cook the elbow macaroni to package directions, drain and cool with water.
      • 3. Heat up chicken to cook completely on the stove in a frying pan. Set aside to let cool.
      • 4. Combine Milk, Mayonnaise, and Ranch dressing mix. Stir well and place in the refrigerator to cool.
      • 5. Combine all ingredients and place in air tight containers for storage. Wait at least 1 hour prior to enjoying.

      Notes

      Estimated calories are calculated by a third party website, and are an estimate. Calories may vary based on ingredients. 
      Keyword chicken, pasta salad, ranch
      Posted in meal prep, Meals, Sides | Tagged lunchprep, mealprep, ranchlover, ranchrecipes
    • Keeping Up With Your Weekly Meal Prep

      Posted at 4:00 pm by Rebecca Showalter
      Jan 16th

      Keeping up with weekly meal prep can be a bit of a struggle especially if you are super busy with kids at home. Fitting in weekly meal prep can save you not only time, but also money in the long run. Different strategies can be adapted to make it work for your lifestyle, but the most important things are finding a weekly meal prep strategy that work for you and sticking to your plan!

      Weekly Meal Prep -- Cheeseburger Mac and Cheese
      Cheeseburger Mac and Cheese Lunch Meal Prep

      Schedule in Weekly Meal Prep Time

      Schedule in your time to meal prep. This is the number one tip I have for anyone wanting to be successful with any lifestyle change habit! Whether it’s adding in exercise or meal prepping, schedule it into your weekly routine! I usually meal prep on the weekend for the whole week! I find this makes the work week less stressful and more productive in the evenings.

      Shop Your Fridge and Pantry

      When looking at planning your weekly meal prep, shop your pantry first. This is the part that will save you money! Use up that cheese and meat left from taco night last week in Spanish rice this week or use up that shredded chicken in chicken and noodles.

      Review Sale Flyers

      After determining what you already have at home. Check out your local sale flyers for what you can stock up on for not only this week, but weeks ahead. If your life is anything like mine, occasionally there is a week or two where we don’t make it to the store.

      Make A Grocery List

      Make a grocery list based on your meal prep plan and stick to it! This one is the hardest for me, I have found that grocery pick up is the best thing that was ever invented, because it makes it super easy for me to stick to my list without any temptation of walking down the isles.

      Make Your Weekly Meal Plan

      I will admit I plan out my lunches firmly, but my dinners more loosely. Usually I have an idea of what 2-3 dinners that will be made during the week. However, these do not necessarily fall on a particular night. I then pick from the list depending on how much prep time I have when I get home from work. The remaining days we eat left overs or out of the freezer prep meals I have pre-made.

      My Weekly Meal Prep For Next Week

      Get Good Reusable Containers

      I started out meal prepping with throw away plastic reusable containers that were around 4-6 containers for $3. Now I have good quality glass containers and it makes all the difference in ease of meal prepping and clean up. I also store these containers separate from the rest of my Tupperware. This is the set I started with. This also prevents having to search for a matching set since the cheaper containers often broke and were misplaced.

      Having a set plan in place to get your weekly meal prep in order will help you stay on track. Scheduling in time, shopping your own fridge and pantry, reviewing sales flyers and making a grocery list will all help you maintain your weekly meal prep plan and stay on budget.

      Disclaimer: I have not affiliation and will receive no kickbacks from purchases made from links found on this web page.

      Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged lunchprep, mealprep, mealprepping, weeklymealprep
    • Instagram

      This Bacon, Egg, and Cheese McGriddle Casserole is a delicious and easy way to start your morning!
      It’s National Farmer’s Day! Don’t forget to thank the farmers in your life! #thankafarmer #nationalfarmerday
      A fresh veggie tray is the perfect easy side dish for our church lunch tomorrow. #healthyadditions #yumm #churchcarryin #deliciousveggies
      Saturday mornings are for meal prepping and baking— I made a wonderful creamy cheese tortellini, 2 kinds of sloppy Joe and banana muffins along with some hard boiled eggs for breakfast this morning all in about 2 hours! I would call that a successful start to next week! #mealprepday #mealprepping #easymeals #yumm #packinglunch #italianforlunch #easyrecipes
    • Sprinkle Of Country

      Sprinkle Of Country
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