SWEET & SPICY BACON-WRAPPED CHICKEN

INGREDIENTS
6-8 OZ. CHICKEN BREAST, CUT IN STRIPS (2-3)
3-6 SLICES OF THICK-CUT BACON
SALT AND PEPPER
GARLIC POWDER
CRUSHED RED PEPPER
3/4 CUP BROWN SUGAR

There are vegetarian-friendly chicken- and bacon-like products created by Morning Star Farms and Gardein are available in the frozen section of Kroger, Meijer, Marsh and Earth Fare stores.

Season chicken strips with salt, pepper, garlic and crushed red pepper. Place chicken in pan and cook throughly -- no pink inside.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Next, wrap each chicken strip in bacon -- I usually wrap 2 thick-cut bacon slices per chicken strip, depending on the size of the chicken strip.

Pack brown sugar on top of and around the chicken/bacon and place each strip on a baking sheet. 
I usually place a piece of tin foil on the baking sheet first and the chicken on top of that, it saves a lot of clean-up time and if you fold the edges of the tin foil up to make a cocoon around the chicken, it will help keep the brown sugar from burning -- I didn't do that this time and the brown sugar was completely burned onto the baking sheet. What can I say? I'm still learning how to use my new mini oven!

Bake chicken for about 30 minutes or until the bacon is crispy. 
You can cover the chicken with a piece of tin foil for the first 20 minutes or so to keep the brown sugar from burning, then remove the foil to allow the bacon to get really crispy.


It's great served with asparagus, mashed potatoes, and/or corn!