chicago chicken + a taste of home

this was my very favorite dinner when i was a kid. hell, it's still my very favorite dinner as a twenty three year old. i vividly remember always requesting it for my birthday dinner growing up and when i'm coming home and my mother asks me what i want for dinner, i ask for this.

how you open a can when you are left handed

we call it chicago chicken and lord knows why. i grew up in northern illinois and i've eaten my fair share of chicken in chicago and this has never been on the menu. my mother got it as a recipe from a friend in the late eighties and it's been a family staple ever since. the cranberries and western dressing create a lovely tang and the onion soup mix mellows it all out. it's blessedly unfancy and delicious and, for me, tastes like home.

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts.
1 can whole cranberries (it has to be whole cranberries - i promise it's worth digging for.)
1 package onion soup mix
1 bottle western dressing

this is a marvelously simple recipe, one of those one bowl, dump and stir wonders. preheat the oven to 350. combine dressing, cranberry sauce, and soup mix into a bowl. pour over chicken breasts and bake for one hour. boom. done. serve with mashed potatoes (pour the sauce over the potatoes and chicken. remember, you trust me.) and something fresh and green and you've got prime comfort food.

and probably me coming over for dinner.