Cranberry Chicken

Another busy week.  It seems they are getting busier all the time, even though I can't quite pinpoint any real changes in our schedules.  Then again lately by 9:15 I'm all in and feeling like it's midnight.  Thankfully Emily is becoming more helpful and lightening the load more than a little.  She balks from time to time, but it is rare, I admit, and usually the reminder that she's got it better than a lot of people pulls her back in line.  She as fretting the other day about her tablet not having enough memory, and wanting me to dash into Staples right now for a new SD card.  I was tired & not a little frustrated when I finally snapped at her, "There are children in this world who don't have a roof over their heads and you're crying because you can't play enough stuff on your tablet!"  A little harsh, but, tears over things that really don't matter in the grand scheme of things irritate me.
Anyway.  Sunday afternoon she began perusing cookbooks and magazines for what she wanted to cook.  She found a recipe for Moroccan Chicken with couscous that sounded pretty good, but I really didn't want to buy a rotisserie chicken.  And, honestly, I wasn't in the mood for couscous.  I flipped through one of my notebooks, looking for something easy.  I suggested Chicken Primavera, or Kung Pao Chicken, then showed her the recipe for Cranberry Chicken.  I was surprised she chose it, since she generally skips the cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Still, it's a good recipe, and easy.  I dug some chicken breasts out of the deep freeze Monday morning, and stopped on my way home for cranberry sauce and French dressing (not something I usually buy, preferring Ranch & Caesar).
When I got home I had her start the rice, since brown rice takes about three times as long as white, but I think it tastes better (ok, it tastes like something.  White rice is only a vehicle for sauce).  Emily stirred together a can of cranberry sauce, a packet of onion soup mix and the French dressing.  She was preparing to line a baking sheet with parchment for the chicken before I pointed out the sauce would be everywhere if she did that.  I handed her a baking dish instead and she arranged the chicken in that, before pouring her sauce over the chicken  and putting it in the oven to bake.

Dinner was very good, again, as always, and we had leftovers for lunch the next day, which is always a bonus.

Cranberry Chicken

1 -16oz can whole berry cranberry sauce                    Juice of half a lemon (about 1 1/2 tbsp)

1 packet onion soup mix                                              2 pounds chicken

10-12 ounces French dressing (1 small bottle)           

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Combine all the ingredients except the chicken.  Arrange the chicken in a baking dish, pour the sauce over.  Bake 30-45 minutes, until done.*

* I used boneless chicken breasts, but bone-in chicken works too.  Boneless chicken needs less cooking time.  This also makes a lot of sauce, so 1 - 250 ml bottle of dressing is ample.