Cranberry and Cream Chicken

This recipe was adapted from one in a Susan Branch cookbook.  I first served this for New Year’s Day in 1995 and have had it every Christmas Day since then.  My daughter and I like to take our plates by the fireplace to enjoy and afterwards always watch A Child’s Christmas in Wales.

• Servings: 4-6
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• Two boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, roasted
• 2 Tblsp. butter
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• ½ cup cranberries
• ¼ cup plus 2 Tblsp. brandy (or chicken broth)
• ½ cup cream
• ½ cup sour cream
• Salt/pepper

Cut each roasted chicken breast half into three pieces.

Melt butter in a large skillet and add garlic, stirring for about 1-½ minutes.  Add chicken pieces and brown on each side.

Remove chicken to a plate to keep warm.

Add cranberries to skillet along with brandy.  Let simmer for 2 minutes and then add cream, sour cream, plus salt and pepper to taste.  Heat but do not boil.

Pour cream sauce over chicken breasts to serve.

I like to serve this dish with a broccoli/carrot saute and mashed potatoes.  A little sauce poured over the mashed potatoes doesn’t hurt a bit.

4-6 servings

Sour Cream Baked Chicken

This dish isn’t very photogenic, but it sure is good.  It comes from a cookbook called Adventures in a Culinary Vein, published by the Cincinnati Hoxworth Blood Centers.  It’s very easy to put together, bakes for an hour and a half, resulting in  tender chicken with a thick, delicious sauce.

• Servings: 4-6
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• 3 chicken breast halves, each cut into four pieces
• 1 package of dry onion soup mix
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Get out a large shallow baking dish – mine is about 12×12 inches.

In the baking dish, combine onion soup mix, undiluted cream of mushroom soup and sour cream.  Place pieces of chicken in the soup mixture and turn to coat each piece.

Bake uncovered @ 325 degrees F for an hour and a half, stirring after 45 minutes.

Makes 4-6 servings

I like to serve this chicken and rich sauce with mashed potatoes and steamed Brussels sprouts

I have a note in my recipe binder:  “First made 3/17/91 – everyone loved – very flavorful.”

Granddaughter Dolphin (as she is known here) was on hand to talk about her latest computer game while I was cooking dinner.

Oat Bran Sour Cream Muffins

I started out with a recipe from Joy the Baker, one of my favorite food bloggers, but made quite a few changes.  I switched out some of the high fat items and used oat bran rather than wheat bran.  Please note that this is not bran cereal, but oat bran such as we used to buy in health food stores and now is available in most groceries.  Joy said that her version improved after a couple of days and mine did, too.  Carefully packed on the kitchen counter, they will be delicious up to 5 days.  This is a nice breakfast muffin – not too sweet and full of healthy ingredients.

• Servings: 12
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• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 cup light sour cream
• 1/4 cup molasses*
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 cup oat bran (not cold bran cereal)
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

Grease/flour 12 muffin cups or insert paper or silicone liners.

In a medium bowl, place the oil, light brown sugar, egg and molasses.

*I used some pure natural cane molasses from Amish Country (Holmes County, Ohio) because I like its slight sorghum flavor.  Something like Grandma’s Molasses would also be good.

Whisk these ingredients until smooth.  Whisk in the baking soda and salt.  Stir in the oat bran and flour just until dry ingredients are absorbed.  Gently stir in the raisins and nuts.

Divide batter between 12 muffin cups.  Bake @ 400 degrees F for approximately 15 minutes – until tops are golden brown and a tester inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Remove pan to rack to cool.  I like the silicone liners now that I’ve discovered letting the muffins cool in the liners for 5-10 minutes makes it easy to pop them out of the liners.

Allow muffins to cool completely on a wire rack.  Then store in a tightly covered container for up to 5 days.

Really tasty with a cup of morning coffee.

The next picture has nothing whatsoever to do with oat bran muffins, but I collect vintage linen and scottie items and had to share  this gift from my oldest daughter.  I love the ladies in the background enjoying their card game while poor hubby is coping with feeding the baby – a revolutionary idea back in the 1930-40s.

Blackberry Glory Pie

I found this recipe in a magazine in 1999 and it gave me another kind of pie to make with the wild blackberries that we had all over our back yard.  My favorite farm market, Blooms & Berries in Loveland, Ohio, had some beautiful big blackberries for sale this week.  They aren’t as tart as our wild ones were, so I reduced the sugar to compensate.  It makes a great pie for the Fourth of July or any other summer holiday – truly glorious.

• Servings: 6-8
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• Pastry for 9″ single crust pie (click here for my favorite pie crust recipe)
• 4 cups blackberries
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup granulated sugar (depending on how tart the berries are)
• 1 cup sour cream
• 3 Tblsp. all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup fine dry bread crumbs
• 2 Tblsp. granulated sugar
• 1 Tblsp butter, melted

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F

Cover the pie shell loosely with aluminum foil and bake for 5 minutes @ 450 degrees F.

Remove foil and bake for another 5 minutes.  Place on rack to cool.

Set oven to 375 degrees F

Rinse and drain blackberries.

In a small bowl, mix together 1/2 to 3/4 cup granulated sugar, sour cream, flour and salt.  Set aside.

In another small bowl, mix together the bread crumbs, 2 Tblsp. of sugar and melted butter.  Set aside.

Place the rinsed and drained blackberries in the baked pie shell.

Cover berries with the sour cream mixture.

Sprinkle the bread crumb mixture on top.

Bake @ 375 degrees F for approximately 45 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack.

Makes one 9″ pie – 6-8 servings 

This pie is all about the berries – the filling is about 2″ high.  The flavor of the blackberries seems to intensify the next day.  The pie can be warmed in a 350 degree F oven for about 10 minutes.