Oven Herb Chicken, Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook, 1962

As promised I have a recipe this week!  This one comes from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book circa 1962.  My copy was my mother's, probably a wedding or shower gift.

It's the same one displayed in Betty and Henry's kitchen in a Mad Men episode.  Lookee here:

It's between the spice rack and the window.

I chose this recipe because it was easy.  We all need an easy quick dinner sometimes, right?  This recipe isn't what I consider "from scratch" but I made it as close to healthy as I could given the time I had.  Here are the ingredients:

I found organic onion soup mix (but not onion salad dressing mix) and the ingredients in the package are pretty basic.  No chemicals I couldn't pronounce but the bread crumbs made up for it.  (I've tried homemade bread crumbs made from homemade bread but my family just doesn't like it as much.)  And that stick of butter.  At least it's organic...

Here it is the way I did it:

1- 3 lbs chicken, cut into 8 pieces

1 pkg onion soup mix

1 stick butter

1t paprika plus more for sprinkling

1/2 to 3/4C seasoned bread crumbs

Melt the butter in a shallow bowl.  Stir in onion soup mix and 1t paprika.  Pour bread crumbs into another shallow bowl or plate.  Dip chicken pieces one at a time in the butter mixture.  Be sure each piece gets some seasoning- it tends to drift to the bottom.  Then immediately press each piece into the bread crumbs and place on a greased baking dish or jelly roll pan skin side up.  When all the chicken is on the pan  sprinkle each piece lightly with more paprika. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 45 minutes.  Check and top loosely with foil if the chicken is too brown.  Bake another 15 minutes or until cooked thru.  

Yummmmers!!  This was a hit all the way around.  Moist and flavorful.  (A stick of butter will do that...)  I had intended to make rice along with the green beans but as you know sometimes life gets in the way.  I had some salad remnants in the fridge so it worked out.  

I highly recommend this recipe.  You could easily make your own onion soup mix (There are recipes on line but I've never tried one.) and make your own bread crumbs to make it more "from scratch".  This will add some steps though.  You could also remove the skin from the chicken pieces to eliminate some calories and fat.  

I hope everyone had a nice Memorial Day weekend and official start of summer!

Sarah