EASY CHICKEN AND DRESSING

                    

Oh my goodness, you are going to LOVE this recipe!  It doesn’t take long to assemble and throw in the oven, but it tastes like “holiday cooking”.  This one will make your children tell you “Happy Mother’s Day” for sure!  And you can act humble and sigh as you say, “Oh it was nothing”----but they will think you worked on it all day.  Have fun!

Ingredients:

1 cup chopped onions

1 cup chopped celery

3 T. olive oil

3 T. butter

2 and ½ cups panko bread crumbs

3 eggs

6 to 8 large pieces of dried mango (or use apricots, apple, pineapple, cranberries or any dried fruit you wish)

6 to 8 large leaves of fresh sage (dried is ok, but fresh is better), chopped

2 T. fresh thyme (dried is ok, but fresh is better), chopped

2 T. fresh parsley, chopped

1 t. poultry seasoning (I used dried)

Black Pepper to taste

Kosher salt  to taste

4 chicken breasts (skin on), with ribs attached; or—4  chicken quarters

Olive oil

Kosher salt

Black pepper

Poultry seasoning (dried)

Paprika

Chili powder

Instructions:

*Saute onions and celery in the olive oil and butter until translucent.  Place in a mixing bowl.

*Add panko, eggs, dried mango, sage, thyme, parsley, poultry seasoning, pepper and salt into the mixing bowl with the vegetables.  Mix well.  Set aside.

*Spray a rectangular pyrex baking dish with PAM.

*Prepare chicken breasts by:

-rubbing a bit of olive oil over all sides of each chicken breast

-sprinkling each chicken breast with salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, chili powder and paprika.

*Place a large spoonful of dressing mixture onto the pyrex baking dish, making 4  equally spaced mounds of dressing.

*Place a chicken breast on top of each spoonful of dressing.

*Place any extra dressing mixture equally underneath the 4 chicken breasts.  Try to stuff all the dressing under the chicken pieces but it’s ok if a bit peeks out.

*Bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour.  Cook until chicken is done (juices run clear at thickest point) and dressing is cooked.  You may need to take away or add to the total cooking time based on the size and thickness of the chicken pieces.

*Use a large flat spatula to  remove each serving of chicken with dressing onto each plate.

***As always, use the spices I suggest or substitute with your own ideas!