Creamy Gardein Chick'n & Fakin' Bake

I just can't get rid of this stupid cold. It just keeps getting worse and worse. Somehow, I still have quite an appetite. Plus, since it feels like winter inside my body, I find myself wanting very rich, warm, comfort foods. One night, I tried to figure out what kind of food we could get delivered, but all of the good options are Asian. What I really wanted was a steak and french fries, but those don't really stand up to a 15 minute bike-ride while steaming in a tinfoil container.

We're kind of in a grocery dead-zone, so there's no place easy to run out to get something besides spaghetti-o's or a can of soup. So I decided to make due with things we have around that would take almost no effort to make into a hearty meal. 

There's a recipe in my family, not sure where it came from - probably a soup can, that involves chicken, cream of mushroom condensed soup, and bacon. Mushroom soup would have been better, but I only had a can of cream of celery on hand, that I usually use for green bean casserole. On the side I simply boiled fresh green beans and russet potato chunks. 

Creamy Chick'n & Fakin' Bake

2 servings, 20 minutes 

(40 minutes if you use real chicken)

1 package (4 fillets) Gardein Chick'n fillets 

OR: 2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves -but you can use up to 4 breast halves per can of soup)

1 can Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup (or Cream of Celery)

1/2 C Lowfat Milk

Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder

4 Vegetarian Bacon Strips (or 4 real bacon strips, uncooked)

1. Preheat oven to 425F. 

2. In a shallow glass baking dish or casserole dish, mix condensed soup and milk together. Season with salt, pepper and about an 1/8 tsp of garlic powder.

3. If using Gardein chick'n: Nestle the 4 fillets into the soup, evenly spaced apart. Spoon a bit of sauce over each one.

If using real chicken: rinse and pat dry each breast. Place in pan on soup and sprinkle with a little salt, pepper and garlic powder to season. Spoon a bit of sauce over each breast.

4. Tear each strip of bacon in half and place the halves on each fillet or breast. Fake bacon is kept in the freezer, so just peel the strips from the frozen package and place directly on the chick'n. 

For real bacon, place uncooked strips directly onto the raw chicken.

5. Bake at 425F - 20 minutes, or until bacon crisps on the Gardein Chick'n. 

Real Chicken will take at least 40 minutes. Check if chicken is cooked - the best way is by using a meat thermometer, which should read 165-170F. But, you can always just cut into it and make sure it's not pink.

6. Serve with something to soak up the sauce, such as garlic bread, potatoes or egg noodles - and of course, a vegetable.