I asked Bill years ago if we could get some chickens and he always said no, but after chatting with some backyard chicken farming friends of ours, he relented. And thus began my journey to becoming a backyard chicken farmer.

We picked out our coop and started researching the breeds we would get. Who knew that there were chickens that are cold or heat tolerant? I bet you didn’t know that there are breeds of chickens that are considered more suburban birds because they tend to make less noise…I sure didn’t. We also needed to research what the rules were in our township. 

I placed the order in early December of 2017…Yes, I ordered my chickens from the internet. Who knew?!? 

My girls were hatched on my thirteenth anniversary (2/12/18) and shipped overnight to my local post office. I was learning something new at every turn of this adventure and I was educating others along the way, like everyone who happened to be in the post office when I picked up a box of chirping birds.

They made their home in a 50 gallon tote, which they quickly grew out of. Since we got them in the dead of winter, they needed to stay inside for the first few months. They stayed in my kitchen! 

I pretty much gave up on the mess quickly. Even having them living in a giant box, the dust and feathers that they sent into the air was INSANE! At one point we gave up on the kitchen table and started eating all our meals at the island. 

Finally they were big enough and it was warm enough for them to go outside. I spent the next three days scrubbing the first floor of the house. 

We’re a little more than a year into the adventure of being backyard chicken farmers and I have to say it’s been a great experience.

My plan is to break out different bits and pieces of backyard chicken farming to share with you. Do you have any questions? Is there anything you’d love to know about having your own flock of birds? Drop me a line!

A few weeks back I bought a giant jar of Hidden Valley Ranch Seasoning & Dressing Mix at Costco. They got me with an impulse when they were sampling ranch garlic bread made with it. I was all, “Sure, I can find things to do with this 16 ounce jar of powdered ranch!”

The Ranch in question

I’ve cut up potatoes and sprinkled it on before baking and that was good but I needed to make something substantial with it…You know, to prove it was worth buying.

Enter the Crispy Ranch Chicken.

After scouring the internet for ways to use it I had it figured out. Well, except for the fact that I was missing the ever important bread crumbs.

I may or may not have Googled how to make bread crumbs. Yep, I’m so bad in the kitchen I couldn’t even figure that one out.

What you will need:

1 gallon sized zipper bag

3 slices of whole wheat bread (Or about a cup of bread crumbs)

3 tablespoons (or one envelope) of the ranch dressing mix

The chicken pieces of your choice (I used boneless, skinless chicken breast)

How you do it:

First you need to make your own bread crumbs. You can season them if you’d like but I just made them with the whole wheat bread since we love the taste of it. Toast the bread until it’s good and crusty. Once you have toast toss it in the blender. A regular blender should work if you don’t have something like a Vitamix or Ninja.

Put your freshly made (and probably better than store bought) bread crumbs in the zipper bag and add the ranch mix to it. Mix well in the bag.

Toss in your chicken pieces and coat.

Place chicken in a pan and bake at 350 for 20-35 minutes (depending on the type of chicken you used).

Ready for the oven

I wasn’t unable to take a photo after it was cooked because the kids ate it too fast.

Tips:

I like to line my pan with foil for easy cleanup.

This recipe was awesome with the chicken breast but try it with your favorite chicken pieces. I think I’ll be trying it with drumsticks next time.

Try it with pork chops, I bet it’s delicious.

The boys LOVED this one. Cameron, who usually hates everything I make was raving about it and even had seconds. They asked for me to make it again soon and it was so easy and fast that I will definitely be making this one part of my regular rotation.

Have you tried it? Let me know what you think.