A Chicken in Every Stomach

Hi Rachel

The red-eye flight home went well today/last night (kind of delirious at the moment I must admit so I'm not sure what day it is) although of course my theory of sleeping through it all was completely imaginary. The only good part of currently operating on about three hours of sleep is that I know I will sleep well tonight, and as someone who has battled sleep problems for the last decade ever since a particular female event occurred, I'm actually okay with being exhausted right now.

It was so wonderful to see Miss M, who is a baby rock star and that's just a fact not besotted grandma speak. It's amazing to see how much she's changed since we saw her about six weeks ago and to actually be able to interact with her. That smile is killer and renders her Pamp and me into total mush. Once she realizes how much she can control us, we are in trouble for sure.

It was also great to operate more as our new larger family. Three months into your new adventure, you and John are no longer as shell-shocked so, while you're both exhausted and Miss M still rules the day's schedule, we had a little more time to just be together as a family. It was so much fun to cook for you and to see how we all interact around this communal eating. I could picture times in the future when M (and perhaps a sibling or cousins from G and S?) are older and we all just cook and eat and play games. I can't wait.

In the meantime, if you want to know how to make this sour cream chicken, here's the recipe. I loved it as a kid and I've loved making it for you, G and S. It was one of those dinners when my mother announced this was what was coming to the table, I was so happy because I knew I would eat every bite. I can't wait to make it for M some day.

Sour Cream Chicken
I made it for 5 but you can add as many chicken breasts as you want and then just increase the amount of sour cream, etc

Note: This is a two=day recipe. The chicken marinates in the sour cream mixture overnight.

ingredients
5 skinless chicken breasts
about 1 1/2 cups sour cream (I use low-fat)
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
Tobasco or hot sauce of choice to taste (about 6 jerks of the bottleis a good place to start)
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup bread crumbs (or more if you're making more)

method
Wash the chicken and pat dry. Mix all the ingredients together and then dredge each breast in the sour cream mixture and place in a flat baking pan. Whatever is left over I pour on top of the breasts. Cover the breasts with foil and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, carefully lift up each breast and gently dredge in the bread crumbs. Place back in baking pan. Put back in the fridge until you're ready to bake.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Uncover the chicken and bake one hour or until the chicken is done.

The sour cream "crust" makes this chicken especially tender. I served it with my favorite veggie (which I forgot you hate) and a version of your smashed potatoes, which G proclaimed later were not as good as yours. Dammit it.....stay tuned, I will make them again. :)

Love
Mom