Lynda, here's an old standby that's served me well for many years. We probably have this once a week, because the ingredients are very easy to keep on hand and this recipe can be thrown in the oven literally in five minutes and stay there all afternoon or even all day. It's very flexible.
The original recipe was called "The Rock Hard Frozen Anything Busy Mom Meal" -- which, of course, was a title that intrigued me so I had to try it. It was in one of my sons' preschool's annual cookbooks, and it uses very homespun ingredients and is totally foolproof (like a lot of recipes from that kind of cookbook, you know? ;-)). I've made this a zillion times and it's just as good every time. My boys and their friends LOVE this dish. Among my boys' friends this is just known as "Mrs. Shapiro's Chicken" -- and they call it that even if what I've made is chops
. If one of my sons comes home with friends while this is cooking, invariably one of the friends will say "Oh man, is your mom making her chicken?" Then we have a guest for dinner. I always make a little extra just in case this happens.
I'll give you the frozen and unfrozen versions. Note too -- this is a wee bit high in sodium (although not terrible by individual portion) so cut the salt out of other accompanying dishes.
Your house will smell unbelievable and the chicken/chops/beef will melt in your mouth.
I serve this over brown rice (you'll get a LOT of wonderful gravy in your pan) and with a quick green salad on the side. It's great the second day, too.
"The Original Rock Hard Frozen Anything Busy Mom Meal"
Ingredients:
4 - 6 large chicken pieces or pork chops or an equivalent portion of stew beef cubes (I almost always use chicken breasts or thighs (or a combo) or pork chops) -- You may use bone-in or boneless, but must use skinless.
2 cans Campbell's Healthy Request Cream of Chicken or Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 envelope Lipton's (dry) Onion or Golden Onion soup mix
OPTIONAL: 1 Tbsp. Kitchen Bouquet seasoning liquid (adds a rich color)
Assembly:
Preheat oven to 250 - 275 degrees.
Place chicken/chops/beef in the bottom of a large, fairly deep casserole dish (9 by 13 works well). If frozen, pieces should at least be separated.
In a medium bowl, combine cream soups with Lipton's soup mix and Kitchen Bouquet.
Pour sauce mixture over chicken/chops/beef, covering thoroughly and smoothing out with spoon.
Grate a little fresh black pepper on top.
Cooking:
Cover tightly with lid or foil and bake. If your meat/poultry is frozen and bone-in, you can leave this in the oven literally all day like a crock pot. If you have boneless frozen pieces, allow a good 2 1/2 to 3 hours. If your pieces aren't frozen, allow 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
In a pinch, you CAN bake this at 350 for less time, but your result won't be as fork-tender. When you bake at the lower temp, you don't even need to set the table with knives! :9
http://www.click-smilies.de/sammlung0903/sport/sport-smiley-003.gif Kathy S.
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