My Little Helper and Toasted Almond Chicken

I love motherhood. Granted, I think it's by far the most exhausted I've ever been, but oh my goodness! The rewards are beyond measure. My little guy is my constant companion. He's cracking me up right now as he crawls all over the place with one of his daddy's powerbars in each fist. He's been looking quite proud of himself ever since he snatched them out of his dad's bag. :)

Below are a couple of pics of me and my little helper. 

Walking the dogs...

Vacuuming the floors...

(for those of you new to this blog, we are up in Mammoth Lakes, CA in a rented condo for a couple of months. Please do NOT think this is my decor, etc. LOL :)

Making the recipe I'm about to share with you....

 I consider this Southern Living recipe one of my favorite comfort foods. I've changed it up a bit over time. The guys like it and the leftovers always go fast.  As I've mentioned before, this family likes rice. Have you seen the size bag we buy?? This is another dish that I serve over rice. You can also serve it over toast points if you prefer. 

This recipe takes about 45 minutes to make and serves about six.

You will need the following ingredients: 

6 skinned and boned chicken breast halves

 1/8 t. salt

1/8 t. pepper

3 T. butter, divided

3 cups whipping cream

4 T. orange marmalade

2 T. Dijon mustard

1/4 t. ground red pepper

1 (2.25-ounce) pkg. sliced almonds, toasted

Kind of a different combination, huh? 

About 20 minutes before dinner I start my rice. 

The original recipe calls for you to flatten your chicken breasts to a 1/4 inch thickness. However, my family prefers to have it in pieces in the size pictured below. Either way works. 

Sprinkle your chicken with salt and pepper. 

Melt 1 1/2 T. butter in a large skillet over a medium-high heat. 

Add half your chicken and cook on each side until golden.

Sadly, I got my chicken a little too golden the evening my little helper and I made this. :)

Remove chicken from skillet. Repeat procedure with remaining butter and chicken.

Reduce your heat to medium; add whipping cream and next three ingredients to skillet, stirring well. 

Add chicken; sprinkle with almonds, and cook until sauce thickens.

Serve over rice. :)

Note: If this is a bit too fattening for your taste, the original recipe calls for only 1/2 of the sauce that I listed. However, my husband and I found it to be rather dry that way and we like having extra sauce to spoon over the rice. :) 

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