Southern Comfort

These recipes come to you all the way from Savannah, Georgia from the kitchen of Mrs. Paula Deen.

Chicken Breasts in Sour Cream Sauce

8 slices dried beef (in a jar)
8 skinless boneless chicken breast halves (7 oz. each)
4 slices bacon, cut in half
1 cup sour cream
one 10 3/4 oz. can condensed cream of mushroom soup
2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Lay one piece of dried beef on each chicken breast and wrap with a half slice of bacon. Place in a 13x9 inch casserole dish, seam side down. Mix sour cream, soup and mushrooms together. Pour over chicken breasts. Cover and bake for 1 1/2 hours. Serve with rice.

My notes: I used uncured bacon and low-sodium cream of mushroom soup to cut down on the salt in the dish and I left out the fresh mushrooms. I like my bacon crispy and the bacon in this dish was quite the opposite of crispy. I didn't care for the flavor or the texture of the dried beef/bacon/chicken combination. I served the chicken with the following rice dish:

Savannah Red Rice

1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped bell pepper
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup diced Hillshire Farms sausage
One 14 1/2 oz. can crushed tomatoes with juice
1 tablespoon Texas Pete or red hot sauce
1 cup tomato sauce
1 cup water
3 chicken bouillon cubes
Pepper to taste; add salt to taste if desired
1 cup uncooked white rice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a saucepan over medium heat, saute' onion and bell pepper in butter. Add sausage; heat until mixture is slightly browned. Add tomatoes, hot sauce, tomato sauce, water and bouillon cubes. Season with pepper and salt as needed. Stir in rice. Pour mixture into a greased casserole dish and bake for 45 minutes.

My Notes: I used brown rice instead of white rice and I did not add salt to this dish. This dish could be a meal in itself. It was full of flavor and very filling. Yum!