Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta

One of my simplest recipes, but tastes like something from your kitchen at home

Well, in this case it DID get made in my home kitchen, but it was trail-style. This was the leftover dinner from my last hike, and one night when it was just Number 3 Son and I at home with nothing to eat, he insisted that I make this.

At least I cooked it in my Evernew pot!

My son gave it a 10/10 and said I needed to cook for him more often. He was right, it was pretty darn good.

This is one of my few recipes that requires no fresh ingredients of any kind, and it doesn’t weigh a lot either.

INGREDIENTS:

8 oz. pasta (shells, rotini, whatever floats your boat)

3 oz. bacon bits (like one of those small packages Oscar Meyer has)

2 packets chicken broth from Packit Gourmet (or equivalent to make 2 cups broth)

5 TB Milkman instant milk powder in mini ziploc (or equivalent of Nido etc. to make 1 cup of milk)

1-1 1/2 cups freeze-dried chicken chunks in small ziploc

1 package Ranch Seasoning & Dressing Mix

1 cup of freeze-dried shredded cheddar cheese in small ziploc

mini ziploc with pinch of granulated garlic, salt and pepper

Optional: mini ziploc with 1 TB dried Litehouse parsley

DIRECTIONS:

Prior to cooking, add enough water to the bags containing the chicken and cheese to rehydrate them.

Put 2 3/4 cups of water in a pot (I used a 1.3L pot and it was just big enough) and begin to heat it.

As it gets warm, stir in the broth concentrate, ranch seasoning mix, pasta, milk powder, chicken and garlic/S&P.

Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 15 minutes until enough water has boiled off to leave you with a runny sauce.

Remove from heat.

Mix in the cheddar cheese and bacon.

Top with parsley if so desired.

Commence devouring.

The above will feed 2 hikers. One ravenous hiker MIGHT be able to eat it all by themself.