My favorite recipe EVER!

This recipe has got to be the most fresh, cool, and flavorful way of preparing chicken I have ever tasted. I could probably eat it every night and not get sick of it. It is adapted from a recipe I found here. I cut it in half, because we are usually only cooking for the two of us and the original recipe was intended to serve 4. It's pretty easy to make and is very healthy. But believe me, it does not taste anything like the bland, crappy food most people associate with diet-friendly meals. In fact, it's almost sinful how tasty it turns out to be. Here is what you will need:

2 chicken breasts
1/2 cup low fat sour cream
1/2 tb dill
1/2 ts freshly cracked pepper
1/2 ts lemon zest (requires 1 fresh lemon and a zesting tool)

Step 1
Gather all ingredients. You might want to go ahead and preheat your oven to 425 degrees so that it will be ready by the time your are done with the preparations.


Step 2
Place 1/2 cup sour cream into a decent sized mixing bowl. Measure 1/2 tablespoon dill. We used fresh minced dill from our herb garden last year and holy lord it makes a huge difference. However, dried dill still tastes very good in this recipe.


Step 3
Crack 1/2 teaspoons worth of peppercorns. You may use pre-ground pepper also, but it's much better this way. I like to funnel the pepper directly into the measuring spoon so that I don't grind too much. But I wouldn't recommend doing it that way unless you have more than 1 set of hands available. ;-)


Step 4
Thoroughly wash the lemon. Now grab your zester (which can be purchased for about $4 in the kitchen utensil section of the grocery store) and begin dragging the sharpened side of the tool against the skin of the lemon. Don't press too hard or you will break into the bitter part of the rind. Do this until you have collected 1/2 teaspoon of zest. When I say "zest" I am referring to the curly pieces of lemon skin you shaved off. You may also substitute the lemon with any other citrus fruit. The only other thing I have tried was an orange, which worked out really well.


Step 5
Now you should have a mountain made of sour cream, dill, pepper, and lemon zest. Whip all these ingredients together until they are completely combined, which should give you a nice fluffy mixture.


Find a small baking dish. It should be large enough to hold both chicken breasts side by side, but not much larger. Spread a thin layer of the mixture on the bottom of the dish. Then lay the chicken in the dish and spread the remaining mixture all around the tops and sides of the breasts. You shouldn't really even be able to see the chicken breasts by the time you're done, they should be completely smothered like so:


Step 6
Put the chicken in the oven (if it has reached 425 degrees) and set a timer for 30-35 minutes. Since you only used the outer layer of the lemons, you may wish to slice them up for garnishing your plate with:


Or for eating...


Step 7
While the chicken is cooking, prepare your side dishes. I usually go for something like red potatoes boiled in herbs and some sort of canned vegetable. Serve the sides with the chicken when it is done baking.


Step 8
Stuff your face!!

I really encourage everyone to give this recipe a try. It would be perfect for a quiet, spring dinner. Let me know if any of you do this, I would love to hear how it turned out!