Here is a delicious and simple recipe from my sister, Betty. Those of you who know me well may be thinking, “Doug has never mentioned another sister.” And until several weeks ago, I didn’t know that I had the good fortune of having another sister. I knew my father had been married before, so I was not totally surprised when I was contacted by a niece I didn’t know about and learned that I had a sister I had never met.

Last weekend, in a giant leap of faith on everyone's part, Linda and I had the pleasure of meeting and visiting Betty and her husband, Lee, as well as my new niece, Corinne, and her husband, Sal. And during an amazing conversation-and-old-photo-filled weekend, we also discovered that we all like healthy and easy dinner entrées. (Okay, so I also like less-than-healthy and complicated meals!) In any event, Betty shared this recipe, which we made this week and enjoyed eating while we still talked about the wonder of discovering that I have a whole other side to my family.

Betty's “Oven-Fried” Pecan Chicken Breasts
Makes two servings

 

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts (we butterflied ours)
1 cup Pepperidge Farm herb seasoned stuffing mix
1 cup chopped pecans
1 egg
2 Tbs. milk
olive oil spray and Pam

Preparation:
Put the stuffing mix and the pecans in a food processor and blend until the consistency of fine bread crumbs. Dip chicken breasts in the beaten mixture of the egg and milk, and then roll in pecan/stuffing mix, pressing down so that it adheres. Place in baking dish sprayed with Pam. Lightly spray with olive oil spray and then bake at 375°F about 20 to 25 minutes, depending on the thickness of the breasts.

We served ours with French green beans, some Wisconsin Wilderness cranberry chutney and a bottle of Sebastiani Pinot Noir.

 

October 8, 2008