Lesson Learned..

My favorite dinner of all times is Poppyseed chicken. This is the dinner I always requested on my birthday, the first dinner I wanted after little hoot arrived (...don't worry, I still got my First Supper) and this is the first meal I attempted to cook for K when we started dating. Poor guy. Directions didn't say to cook the chicken first. Too obvious a step to mention, perhaps? Like "get the pot out of the cabinet?" Ugh. Anyway. My first try at impressing him/tricking him into believing that I could cook for him like a true southern belle turned into me serving him raw chicken in a warm pool of sour cream and cream of celery soup. Luckily, he is a wonderful cook. He fixed it for me that night while I cried on the kitchen floor- literally- surely with a bottle of wine in hand.

Mistakes happen and you learn from them. Like the time I put dish soap in the dishwasher to return home to a kitchen ankle deep in bubbles. Or the time I searched in the grocery store for over an hour looking for "Urban Tomatoes" only to learn I was supposed to be looking for "Herb and Tomatoes." You know, common mistakes that everybody makes.

My mom and my sister were in town last weekend and I decided to try and redeem myself by making Poppyseed chicken for us all. Here's the rundown:

wash the chicken and bring it to boil

in a separate bowl, mix together cream of chicken soup...

cream of celery soup...

1 cup of sour cream...

and of course, poppyseeds

(about a tablespoon and a half)

stir

in the microwave, melt a half a stick of butter

crush one package of ritz crackers

(i spy a hungry doggie!)

pour crackers into melted butter

and fold over

cut the chicken into small pieces

(or leave chicken breast whole and serve one breast per plate)

...

pour topping over chicken

sprinkle crackers over the top

bake for about 20-30 minutes @ 350 degrees

serve with pride.

I can't believe how easy this was. I will now add it to my repertoire of recipes. Grand total: less than a handful. Hey, it's progress!

Until Next Time,

The Guff