Bacon & Rosemary Chicken

Sounds weird. But let me tell you, this was one of the best things we have had lately. It was so good. I'll tell you all about it as we go through it here. It's from the latest Simple & Delicious.

Bacon & Rosemary Chicken
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup flour
5 bacon strips, chopped
1 tbsp butter
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced (I minced mine with my PC garlic press...why slice garlic when you can crush it to smithereens?)
1 tbsp minced fresh rosemary or 1 tsp dried rosemary, crushed
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 tbsp lemon juice

Flatten chicken breasts to an even thickness; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place flour in large ziploc bag. Add chicken breasts, one at a time, and shake to coat. In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Remove to paper towels with a slotted spoon; drain, reserving 2 tbsp drippings. Cook chicken in butter and reserved drippings (here I really cut down the amount of fat...you could use olive oil instead of butter too, or just use the bacon fat...for that reason I put this in the "dairy-free" category as well) for 4-6 minutes on each side or until a meat thermometer reads 170. Remove and keep warm. Add the garlic, rosemary and pepper flakes to the skillet; cook for 1 minute. Add broth and lemon juice; bring to a boil (let me tell you, this was the best, most different-smelling food smell we've had in a while...it smelled FABULOUS!). Cook until liquid is reduced by half. Return chicken and bacon to skillet; heat through. 4 servings.

We had this with mashed potatoes. This was, like I said, so good. For Nathan and Emma, I just left their chicken out after that step where you "remove and keep warm." For ours and Sam's, I returned it to the skillet and heated through...you should definitely make this. I'm tagging Becky H in this post once it goes to facebook (become a fan if you're not already! Do a search for New Recipe Night and click Like) because she has fresh rosemary from her garden in her kitchen...most definitely a keeper!!