Winner! Winner! Circa 1975 Chicken Dijon Dinner

Here is a little recipe that will feed kids and please friends at a dinner party. It's a recipe I grew up with that graced family dinner table, party buffet and even picnic blanket spreads.

Just as a note of nostalgia and pop culture history I would mention this dish originated from the "Grey Poupon" dijon mustard 1970's era. It was a dish that became popular as the company tried to give customers and home cooks a variety of uses for the mustard and published recipes to promote it's sales.

My grandma and mother made this dish as one of the dishes in their arsenal of chicken dishes. My brother and I loved it while my mother loved it cause it was baked and not fried.

Raising children if not an easy thing to be sure. I don't have children but I see my friends work at like it's a job. I mean that's really what it takes to be a good parent.

One thing that I can appreciate is that feeding kids can be difficult. However, many of the families I work with I think do themselves an injustice. I see many of the very privileged mothers I work with bend over backwards to give their kids whatever they want on whatever whim.

I think that they are doing their kids a disservice. When I was growing up there was no choice as to what was for dinner. I mean you ate what there was for dinner or you went hungry. My brother was a much pickier eater than I was but we learned to enjoy a variety of foods because we were forced to eat them. Finding favorites was one thing. However, learning to appreciate all the different things that are out there is another perk of trying to get kids to "eat their veggies"

Of course making things that kids want to eat is easier than forcing them to eat things they don't want to eat so finding different versions of those things is a no brainer and fried chicken in various incarnations is definitely a winner.

This recipe is made with cut up chicken pieces but could be adapted for chicken fingers to please little eaters. And while they are eating it they won't know that's it's better than fried chicken.

Dijon Chicken
(Serves 6)

Ingredients:

12 chicken pieces (I used boneless skinless thighs)
salt and pepper to taste
garlic powder
onion powder
1 jar (8 ounces) Dijon mustard
1 cup sour cream
Italian-flavored panko breadcrumbs

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Sprinkle the chicken pieces well with salt and pepper, garlic powder and onion powder
Combine the mustard and sour cream.
Spread each piece generously with the mustard mixture and roll in the bread crumbs. (because I used boneless skinless thighs I rolled these into small bundles and they turned out really nice almost like a stuffed thigh, though I've made this with regular pieces and they are very easy and delicious, the thighs also cooked longer than the 20 mins. but came out perfect)

Place the chicken on a baking sheet in a single layer and cover with foil
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes at 400. Remove foil and bake for an additional 20 minutes, or until the chicken is golden brown. Don't let it burn.
This may be served hot, warm or cold for a picnic.