cheesy bacon broccoli chicken rice

This dish has a long name. And this dish is long on flavor. It's basically perfect. I mean, it's got cream, bacon, broccoli, cheese, chicken and rice? What?! I'll take it.

So in all my excitement to make this meal, I forgot to take a picture of the bacon cooking. Whoops. But, the first step is to cook the bacon. Then, add a tablespoon of butter to the pan with the bacon drippings, and cook the chicken. But, take the bacon out of the pan first.

Next step, remove the chicken from the pan and add the onions. Along with another little pat of butter. You'll need to keep adding butter to this dish. Maybe that's what it tastes so good.

Now for the garlic. Everything is better with garlic. Well, maybe not everything. But onions definitely are!

After that, add in your chopped broccoli. Again, I forgot to take a picture of that step. I'm failing at this post so far, I think. Anyway, add in the chopped broccoli, cook it for about 3 minutes to soften just a bit, then add in the tomatoes, bacon and chicken. Keep this cooking while you make your cheese sauce.

We're going to make a basic rue for the cheese sauce- starts out with butter, of course.

And then, the flour!

The deeper and richer the rue becomes, the deeper and richer the cheese sauce will be.

Cream and milk makes the sauce creamy and dreamy and delicious. Let this thicken up and then remove it from the heat.

Add in the cheese, salt and pepper and stir until it's completely smooth and all the cheese is melted.

Perfect. This would be delicious on a shoe!

Mix it all up...

...and you are good to go! This made lots of leftovers for Ed and I, and the leftovers just get better and better!

Cheesy Bacon Broccoli Chicken Rice
Modified from Kevin and Amanda!
4 slices bacon, chopped
1 large boneless skinless chicken breast, diced
3 Tablespoon butter, divided
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 cup cooked white rice
1 small onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups broccoli, chopped
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
2 Tablespoons flour
1 cup whole milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper, to taste

In a large saute pan over medium heat, cook bacon until crisp. Remove using a slotted spoon and set aside. Add 1 tablespoon of butter and olive oil to hot pan. Season chicken with salt and pepper and add to hot pan. Cook until no longer pink and remove from pan and set aside with the bacon. Add diced onion to pan and cook for 5 minutes or until soft and translucent. Add garlic and cook an additional minute or until fragrant. Add in broccoli and cook for an additional 3 minutes to soften. Pour in cooked white rice, the diced tomatoes with juice as well as the cooked bacon and chicken. Keep warm over low heat while preparing the cheese sauce. In a small sauce pan, melt 2 tablespoons of butter then whisk in the flour. Cook for 2 minutes until rue is golden brown. Pour in milk and cook until bubbly and thickened, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat then stir in cheese. Stir until smooth and all cheese is melted. Season with salt and pepper then stir into chicken rice mixture. Add any additional salt and pepper, then enjoy!