Cranberry Chicken

As I've mentioned earlier, in preparation for our new baby's arrival, I made lots of freezer meals.  They've been so wonderful to just pull out of the freezer the night before, let it thaw in the fridge until I need it the next day.  Then I just warm the food up, get a few sides ready quickly, and PRESTO...dinner's ready.  

It's been a real lifesaver with the new baby, lots of homework, five days of baseball practices and games, scouts, dance and recitals, and so on.

These would be super useful even if I didn't have a new baby.  I have many, many days where I'm so busy, I can't spend a lot of time on dinner.

Today's recipe comes from one of my favorite cookbooks that is made up solely of freezer meal recipes.  It's called "Dinner is Ready" by Deanna Buxton.

At first I was a little worried that my kids would freak out about the cranberries in this dish, but they didn't even notice the few cranberries that hadn't cooked down.  Everyone actually loved this dish!

Try out this super simple freezer meal.  You'll love having something handy on day you're busier than a bee!

Here's what you'll need:

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips

1 (16 oz.) can whole berry cranberry sauce

1 C. creamy French dressing

1 envelope onion soup mix, dry

Place chicken in a greased 9x13-inch baking dish and season with salt and pepper well.

In a bowl, combine the cranberry sauce, French dressing, and onion soup mix.

Pour over chicken.

Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to cool.  Place in a gallon freezer bag.  Label and freeze.

To serve: Thaw.  Heat until hot throughout.  Serve with rice.

When I used this freezer meal, I thawed this and dumped everything in the gallon freezer bag into a crockpot.  Then I just turned it on High and let it heat through in that for a few hours.

You can assemble this recipe and freeze it before baking it.  In that case, thaw and bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.  Super simple!