Ranch Chicken & Hasselback Potatoes

One of my all time favorite foods is the potato. I love potato soups, baked potatoes, oven roasted potatoes, breakfast potatoes, you name it. Every year for Christmas Eve, my aunt makes mini hasselback potatoes and I count down the minutes on the oven timer until they're done and I can dig in. Seeing the amount of time my aunt put into making them, I quickly realized that they required a lot of patience to make but for some reason I never told myself to just give it a try. 

If there's one thing I hate about baked potatoes, it's the time it takes for them to bake. One weekend, while craving potatoes, I finally sucked it up and gave hasselbacks a try and I was SO pleased with how they turned out - they are well worth the wait I promise you.

Along with the potatoes I decided to make baked ranch chicken. Now I'm not the best when it comes to cooking meat; it's hard for me to get it just right. Somehow though, I managed to get it right this time around. The chicken turned out so juicy that I had to take a picture just to prove it. 

Yield: 4 servings

• 4 medium or 6 small russet potatoes
• Olive oil for drizzling
• Sea salt
• 4 chicken breasts
• 1 tbsp from a single packet Hidden Valley Greek Yogurt Ranch powder
• 1 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 sleeve whole wheat Ritz crackers
• 2 tbsp butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 425°. Wash and dry the potatoes. Slice a small piece off the bottom of each potato to prevent the potato from rolling as you cut. Take two wooden skewers, wooden spoons, or anything you don't mind getting nicked with the knife as you cut the potatoes, and set on each side of the potato.

Cut small slits in the potatoes stopping before you slice all the way through - this is where the skewers/wooden spoons come in handy. Each slice should be about 1/8-1/4 inch apart. Place potatoes on a baking sheet (lined with foil), drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with sea salt. Bake for 30 minutes.

While potatoes are baking for their first 30 minutes, prepare the chicken. In a freezer Ziploc bag, add the Ritz crackers and crush with a rolling pin. Once crushed to the size of bread crumbs, add the ranch powder and Parmesan cheese. Empty contents into a shallow dish (you want something big enough to dredge the chicken in).

Brush each chicken breast with melted butter then dredge in the ranch mix. After each chicken breast is well coated, lay in a glass baking dish coated with nonstick cooking spray. Sprinkle any remaining ranch mix on top of the chicken and lightly spray with cooking spray. 

Once the potatoes have cooked for 30 minutes, remove from the oven and drizzle with a little more olive oil. Put the potatoes back in the oven along with the chicken and continue to bake for 25 minutes. Remove the chicken and cover with foil; bake covered for another 10-15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and topping is golden brown.