Deviating from the original...

Believe it's time to go to the grocery. I'm goggling ingredients-on-hand to figure out what I can cook. No cheese. No coffee creamer. No veggies. No fruit. No rice. I do have a pound bag of frozen chicken breasts. And bacon. So...last night I dug around and found enough stuff to cook a dinner. It wasn't as lean as those nights where we ate egg sandwiches for three days or hot dogs with a piece of cheese, but will be getting pretty close if I don't stop by the grocery.

I tried a new recipe. I had no shredded Monterey Jack cheese, so I used the slices of Swiss that was languishing in the back of the fridge drawer and went heavy on the grated Parmesan...the kind that never goes bad and lives in a plastic jar. No Ranch dressing mix, so I used Ranch salad dressing out of the bottle. By the time I finished, the only thing in common with the recipe I started with was the chicken and bacon.

So, in other words, I just used this recipe as a "idea" and then went with my own concoction. Or as the hubs says, "you deviated from the original". And I find myself doing that quite often, as I love to cook and get bored with the same dinner again and again.

As I was sitting here this morning, drinking my coffee (no creamer, so I am using the last of my kid's chocolate syrup and milk cause I can't get down as much as I need when it's black) and reading my Bible, I realize that many times life doesn't turn out the way I expect it to. The end result isn't predictable and sometimes not even fit to eat when I deviate from the original recipe. I am sure that the dinner we ate last night tasted NOTHING like the dinner that the original recipe produced. So, if I want my life to turn out to be what my Heavenly Father intended, I need to adjust myself to fit the recipe God made for me. Things will turn out much better if I just go by what he's laid out for me. Instead of deviating along the way. When I've messed life up, it's not nearly as easy as throwing out a meal and serving everyone cereal in fancy bowls. I can't rewind a day, week or month that I lost because I "fixed" something I should have left alone. My prayer today is for the Lord to help me adjust even the smallest detail to his will. Pray for His direction and guidance. I am not only living for myself, but for my family. My husband. My son. And I can't afford for them to go without what I am to be providing. So, here is the recipe I ended up with.

Deviated Ranch Parmesan Chicken 400 degree oven/20-25 min or until chicken is done 9X9 pan 2 Chicken breasts, trimmed and cut into cubes 2 Tablespoons liquid Ranch dressing 4 Tablespoons of sour cream 1/3 cup grated Parmesan (plus 1/4 cup for topping) Salt/Pepper and other seasonings of our your choice Three slices or shredded cheese of your choice (I used Swiss) Six slices pre-cooked bacon 1/2 Tblspn Olive oil

Preheat oven to 400. Coat baking pan with the olive oil. Using a mixing bowl, combine chicken, Ranch dressing, sour cream and 1/3 cup Parmesan along with seasonings. I use a Smokey Mesquite Pepper seasoning in addition to the traditional salt/pepper. Pour into pan. Cover and bake until chicken is done (internal temp of chicken needs to be 165 degrees). Should be approximately 20 minutes. Take off cover, put on cheese and bacon. Return to oven and cook an additional 5 minutes until cheese is melted and bacon is crispy.

It was a bit juicy, but that "gravy" was good on green beans and potatoes.