Piggy Chicken

**Piggy Chicken** is the fourteenth recipe featured in Cinnamon Roll Murder.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

**Hannah's 1st Note: This recipe is from my friend, Nancy Sapir. Nancy's family just loves Piggy chicken. Nancy wrote "Sooo good!" on the bottom of her recipe. This recipe may sound complicated, but it's not. Once you do it you'll laugh at how delicious and easy it is. (And it looks gorgeous and very difficult, as if you spent all day working in the kitchen - don't tell ANYONE you didn't! It's Nancy's secret . . . right?)**

## Ingredients

* Piggy Chicken
	+ 1 to 1 and 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken tenders
	+ 8 ounces cream cheese ***(NOT whipped, NOT low-fat -- use the brick type of cream cheese, not the plastic tub) (I used an 8-ounce box of Philadelphia Cream Cheese)***
	+ 1/8 cup ***(2 Tablespoons)*** dried chopped chives
	+ 1/3 cup dried minced onions ***(optional)***
	+ salt
	+ freshly ground pepper
	+ 1 pound regular-sliced bacon ***(Don't use microwave bacon or thick-sliced bacon. The thick-sliced bacon may not get crisp, and the microwave bacon may get too crisp since it's been precooked.)***
* Champagne Mushroom Sauce
	+ 1/2 cup salted butter ***(1 stick, 4 ounces, 1/4 pound)***
	+ 1 eight-ounce container sliced fresh button mushrooms ***(you can also use well-drained canned mushrooms)***
	+ 1/2 cup domestic champagne ***(or white wine; use chicken stock if you don't want to use alcohol)***
	+ 1 packed ***(.88-ounce net weight)*** of brown gravy mix ***(I used Lawry's)***

**Hannah's 2nd Note: I added the minced dried onions to Nancy' recipe because the whole Swensen clan like onions. Since I was the one who added it, I made it optional.**

## Directions

* Piggy Chicken
	+ Lay each chicken tender between two sheets of plastic wrap and place them on a cutting board. Use a meat hammer to pound them as flat as you can get them without creating holes. If you pound on the undersides, instead of on the tops, they’re less apt to fall apart.
	+ Once you've pounded the chicken tenders thin and stacked them on the counter, it's time to prepare your baking pan.
	+ Eyeball the pile of pounded chicken tenders. Once you've assessed how much space they'll take, find a shallow pan ***(or two)*** that will hold them all **with at least one inch between them on all sides**. Spray this pan ***(or both pans)*** with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray.
	+ Move one flattened tender to the cutting board or bread board. Take off the top sheet of plastic wrap.
	+ If your cream cheese isn't softened, put it in a microwave-safe bowl and heat it on HIGH for 25 seconds. If you can't stir it smooth at the end of that time, microwave it on HIGH at 20-second intervals until you can stir it smooth.
	+ Add the chives plus the dried onions if you used them. Mix them into the cream cheese thoroughly.
	+ Use a spatula or a frosting knife to spread approximately 2 teaspoons of softened cream cheese on the flattened chicken tender.
	+ Sprinkle the dried chopped chives with minced dried onions ***(if you decided to use them)***.
	+ Sprinkle the cream cheese mixture with salt and freshly ground pepper.
	+ Roll up the loaded-with-goodness chicken tender like a jelly roll. Pick it up and move it to the bottom of the cutting board.
	+ Bring one piece of bacon on the cutting board. Pick up the piece of bacon and wrap it around the chicken roll, trying to angle it so that you cover as much of the chicken roll as possible
	+ When you're finished rolling the bacon around the chicken roll, place it in the pan you've prepared with at least one end of the bacon under the chicken tender roll.
	+ Repeat this process until all of the flattened tenders have been rolled and covered with bacon.
	+ Slip the pan (or pans) into a 375 degree F. oven for 25 minutes. Then turn the oven up to 425 degrees F. for 5 additional minutes, or until the bacon is crisp.
	+ Serve just the way they are, or with Champagne Mushroom Sauce to pour on top.
* Champagne Mushroom Sauce
	+ Melt the butter in a saucepan over MEDIUM heat.
	+ Add the mushrooms and sauté lightly.
	+ Add the champagne ***(or white wine or chicken stock)*** and stir well.
	+ Sprinkle in the gravy mix. Stir the mixture until it bubbles.
	+ Cook this mixture, stirring constantly, for one minute.
	+ Pour the Champagne Mushroom Sauce into a gravy boat, and serve it when you serve Piggy Chicken.