Written by Dawn Caldwell @ CommonGround Nebraska
I don’t think it matters if a gal lives in the city, in the country, on a farm, ranch, a downtown loft, or at the end of a cul-de-sac in a suburb. The age-old question is the same…What’s for supper?
We have had extra people eating at our house quite a bit over the past couple of weeks. My kids LOVE it because I tend to cook more and better when we have guests. I am not sure why – I certainly feel no need to impress them. I guess I just figure they won’t rummage through the cupboards and fridge to find something more if they didn’t get full the first time around like my own kids will.
Besides having guests at the table, the kids are hungry by evening. They head off to school after doing their chores in the morning, get a much less than adequate amount of protein and calories for lunch, head off to practice or home to do more chores/projects and then finally get fed sometime after 7 p.m. when I have had time to get home and fix something. I could not be more disappointed in the new rules our school cooks must abide by. The protein and caloric limitations and not suited to farm kids who are burning several thousand calories each day between sports and work!
I really wanted to write today to tell you about the supper I made recently. It occurred to me as I was putting it together, that I was including nearly every livestock animal in a barnyard! We had “Company Chicken” with rice and snow peas. I had ingredients that came from a beef animal, milk cow, chicken, and a pig. Pretty cool – the kids decided we should change the name of the meal to barnyard supper!
This meal definitely falls into the top 5 favorite list for my kids. They did inform me that I do not fix it as often as they would like for me to. And – yes, it is a perfect meal for the night before game day. Good carbs and protein!
From me and my family – thank you to the farmers who grow everything in this meal that we don’t! That would be the chicken, bacon, peas, rice, and dairy products!!!
“Barnyard” Supper
Ingredients
Butter (just enough to butter the bottom of a baking dish)
One package dried beef (enough slices to cover bottom of baking dish)
6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
6 strips bacon
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
16 oz container sour cream
4-6 servings of rice prepared according to package directions
Directions
1. Butter a baking dish and line with dried beef.
2. Stir together the sour cream and cream of mushroom soup.
3. Wrap chicken breast pieces with strips of bacon, arrange in baking dish, and cover with sour cream mixture.
4. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees.
5. Serve over rice with your favorite green veggies!