Chicken, Bacon Ranch Zucchini Boats

I am and always will be a daddy’s girl. Not only do we share the same face (seriously, we look like face twins) but we also are very similar in personality. My dad, a man of few words, understands me and I understand him. He gives the best bear hugs and knows how to pick me up when I am down. He’s wicked funny and extremely smart, a man with common sense and street smarts that belied his lack of a college education and helped him succeed in a role that required one to support his family. He’s a pretty cool dude, that Bob McCann, and I have always been his girl.

But that doesn’t change the story I’m about to tell you, though. It doesn’t make it different or any less weird or me any less awkward. It just sheds some light into the backstory so you can see things a little more clearly.

When I was growing up, I was attached to my mom’s hip. Not literally, but you get it. She was a stay at home mom, one who gave us everything, her entire heart, and soul. She gave us all of her time, energy, and attention, and I, in turn, gave her, well no free time. I was with her always. I remember going to the grocery store with her and then sitting down to watch The Price is Right with our bag of corn chips after we put everything away (it’s strange the things that stick with you). I remember Memory Games that lasted eons and how she used to imitate Grover’s voice perfectly when she read “The Monster at the End of the Book” to me. I remember all of this because we were together so incredibly often.

My dad, not so much. As it is with most fathers, mine worked to support our family. And he worked very hard. Traveling often, working late nights. He was a dedicated provider, one who loved us, but as a kid, seemed rather distant because he was more often gone than he was around. He seemed kind of like a stranger, one I adored but didn’t know very weel. My mom, in all of her mom wisdom, knew this was not good and set about to build a bit more of a connection between her daughter and her dad.

So she sent us out on a Father-Daughter Date Day. (And this was well before they were cool)

At her urging, one Saturday when I was about eight or so, my dad took me out for lunch to the local Friendly’s ice cream shop. I was very excited. My memory is always a little hazy and melodramatic, we know this, but that still, I distinctly remember dressing up. I was never much of a girlie girl who loved dresses, but I do remember wearing one. I remember being excited. I remember thinking it was a big deal to be going somewhere so fancy* with just my daddy, no older brother, no mom. Just me and him

I remember being so excited as we sat down, with those iconic paper menus. I remember being excited to get my Mr. Cone Head Sundae (y’all remember him, right?) at the end of the meal. I had butterflies in my tummy. This was a big deal.

Except those butterflies, well, they kept getting worse. I sat across from my father, who I loved and felt so honored to be on this date with, and froze. I had nothing to say or no idea what to talk about as I sat there playing with my food in uncomfortable silence. For what felt like hours. And I also remember, quite distinctly in fact, running to the bathroom at least 5 times because my stomach was so nervous I felt sick.

I cannot even imagine, to this day, how my dad felt during this episode.

I do know that we left early. I don’t think I got my Mr. Cone Head (what a loss). And I know we never went on any more Father Daughter dates until I was much older and more capable of handling a little nervousness without a plethora of bathroom visits.

And while I can laugh at her ridiculousness and feel sad for my dad, I still think little eight-year-old Meaghan deserves some grace in this. I’m not mad at her for feeling nervous or for going all deer in the headlights in that booth at Friendlys in the early 1980s. I understand her, still, to this day. We both have the tendency to get inside our own heads too much. We both have a tendency to get way too nervous about the little things, the things that don’t matter and lose sight of what really does.

We both, as it turns out, are a little bit hot mess and a little bit grace. That’s how we roll.

But, this story about little eight-year-old Meaghan and her nervousness has a lesson to teach big 41-year-old Meaghan today. The 41-year-old Meaghan who is, I’m not going to lie, pretty freaked out about doing yet another round of homeschooling because this stupid pandemic won’t disappear. The 41-year-old Meaghan who feels so nervous about being able to handle three kids on three kids doing three different things from three different grades on three different computers that she can’t sleep at night. Yeah, this same Meaghan needs to get this lesson down, right now, so she can move forward and be OK for these three weeks of virtual learning.

And this is the lesson, my friends: Don’t focus so much on the little things that you miss the opportunity right in front of your face. Don’t let the scary stuff, the new stuff, the things you feel unsure about, get in the way of the reality of the moment, and the gift that the present is offering you.

In other words, get out of your own head, Meaghan, or you’ll miss out on another Mr. Cone Head. And that stinks.

This relates so closely to what we’re going through right now that I can’t avoid the comparison, but it also goes deeper, into real life, everyday situations that have nothing to do with the pandemic. It is so easy to live life in the weeds, to be beholden to the little details and fretting over the little things that seem so big at the moment, that we lose sight of the big picture, the big blessings, and the larger gifts each life situation can offer us.

Because I was so nervous about making the perfect small talk and being a good “daughter date” for my dad, I lost out on the chance to really have that time to bond with him and also, yes, get some wicked cool ice cream sundae with a cone hat too. I lost out on the bigger gift because I was so focused on the smaller, scarier unknowns. And I still do this today.

We are being called into unknown and uncharted territory. We thought the spring, with all of its e-learning nightmares, was over but the virus (no arguments about its validity, it is what it is) had other plans and we’re back at it. And we feel grossly unqualified. Moms everywhere are freaking out, worried about failing their kids and precious lost social time and educational services. They’re so focused on what could go wrong (and yes, I know plenty is possible) that they are losing sight of what can go right. Or, at the very least, ok.

I am NOT looking forward to this, friends, and I’m not even going to sit here and pretend that I am. But I am going to try to get out of my own head enough to not make it a Friendly’s disaster. I’m going to work hard to give them the best darn three week e-learning experience I can before I send them back into the wilds of the school hallways again, for the first time in six months. I’m going to try, to the best of my ability, to enjoy the gift of three more precious weeks where I can love them and keep them safe. And I’m going to do my very best to not get so far into my own head with worry and fear that I make them run into the school’s doors without looking back.

Because this gift has a no refund policy and we’d better make the most of it. Don’t you think?

Chicken, Bacon Ranch Zucchini Boats

This recipe for Chicken Bacon Ranch Zucchini Boats is what happens when you make a recipe for the kids (in this case my delicious Ranch Chicken Handpies) and try to “adult” it up a bit, making it healthier and more grown-up friendly for people trying out the low carb or keto thing for a bit. I knew, because the handpies are pretty ridiculously amazing, that they would be good, but I didn’t really realize just how good they would be. Because honestly, and this is a secret between you and me, I like the healthy version better.

I’m not sure what makes these Chicken Bacon Ranch Zucchini Boats so incredible. It could, as one might suspect, be the addition of bacon. Which clearly makes everything better. It could be because the freshness of the zucchini provides a good balance to the richness of the filling. It could be, and this is a very real chance, be because it’s fun to eat things in boat form. I don’t know. But either way, they’re really quite amazing.

Just a few notes on this one. It’s a really quite straightforward Chicken Bacon Ranch Zucchini Boat recipe. You can play around with the ratios of ingredients if you want one flavor to be more pronounced than the others, adding in more ranch or cheese depending. Depending on the size of your zucchini you might have filling left over. This is actually a good thing, save it and cook it in a handpie or even just roll it up in a crescent roll. It would make a pretty wicked “chicken salad melt” too. Cooking the empty zucchini shells might seem like an extraneous step and you can truly skip it if time is an issue, but it gives the shell a nice crunch and a sturdier base for the filling. So don’t skip unless absolutely necessary. Either way, they are tasty and delicious and if you’re following the KETO diet or just want to curb your carbs a bit, this is one tasty way to do it.

Peace love and getting out of your own way,

Meg

Chicken, Bacon Ranch Zucchini Boats

August 7, 2020

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By: Meaghan Dawson

Ingredients

• 4 medium-sized zucchinis
• 2 cups pre-cooked shredded chicken
• 4 strips of bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup ranch dressing

Directions

• Step 1 Preheat the oven to 400 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Step 2 Halve zucchini lengthwise and, using a spoon, scoop out the seeds in the center, hollowing it out to make a boat.
• Step 3 Place boats on the baking sheet, hollow side up, brush lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
• Step 4 Bake for 10 minutes, remove from oven and set aside.
• Step 5 Meanwhile, combine chicken, 3 strips of the crumbled bacon (reserving one for topping), 1/2 cup cheese (reserving 1/4 cup for sprinkling) and ranch dressing in a large bowl.
• Step 6 Stir well to combine and season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Step 7 Using a spoon, fill each boat with a heaping amount of chicken mixture. (you want them pretty full but not overflowing). You may have extra chicken mixture depending on how big your zucchinis are.
• Step 8 Sprinkle remaining cheese on top and then the crumbled bacon remaining.
• Step 9 Bake for 12-15 minutes or until browned and melted.
• Step 10 Enjoy.

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