Baked Chicken With Dijon and Lime & Collards

"As for those grapefruit and buttermilk diets, I'll take roast chicken and dumplings." - Hattie McDaniel

One of the great things about committing to this blog is that it forces me to cook and bake things that I would have never normally tried. With the anxiety that surfaces when cooking wandering what will work what will not, will it taste good, will people like it, doing it this way allows you to step out of the box and try without worrying that you have ruined a meal...this way you can look at it as if it is simply an experiment. Tonight I am making a dijon and lime baked chicken and coupling it with one of James favorites, collard greens and dumplings! I prepared the chicken ahead of time and set it in the fridge till I was ready to bake. An extremely simple recipe with some really flavorful condiments. Dijon, mayo, garlic, lime zest, and salt n pepper. The collards were also simple to make and turned out to be my favorite collard recipe yet! Chicken broth, hot-sauce, garlic, salt and pepper...oh yeah and butter! These recipes were quick, easy and got everyone fed before running off to all the other commitments our busy family has. The boys were not very thrilled with the chicken (because of the dijon and lime) but my adult pallet was loving every minute of it. This chicken had the taste of a restaurant quality meal.

Bobby's Baked Chicken With Dijon and Lime
pg. 78 The Deen Family Cookbook

One 3 1/2 chicken cut into 8 peices
3 tbsp Dijon
1 tbsp Miracle Whip
1 clove of garlic, minced
finely grated zest and juice of 1 lime
3/4 tsp pepper
salt
fresh parsley

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Rinse chicken, pat dry. Place in greased casserole dish. In a small bowl, whisk together the mustard, mayo, garlic, lime zest, and juice, and pepper. Season the chicken generously with salt. Pour the dijon/mayo mixture over the chicken and coat well.

2. Bake for 30 minutes or until cooked through. Drizzle with pan juices over the top and garnish with parsley.

Michelle's Collards
pg.124 The Deen Family Cookbook

I tweaked this recipe for time allotment. It called for cornmeal dumplings, I just made cornbread with green chilies instead.

Collards
2 quarts chicken broth or water.
1 tsp Paula Deen Hot Sauce
1 tsp Lady and Son House Seasoning (salt, pepper, and garlic powder)
one lb bunch collards, center ribs removed, leaves cut
4 tbsp butter

1. In a large pot, combine all ingredients except the collards and simmer for 15 minutes. Add collards and cook for 20 minutes. Strain and salt and pepper to taste.