Guilty Secret Poppy Seed Chicken Recipe (for regular people who just can’t anymore)

Community Voices X Pen Parentis - M. M. De Voe sends us a recipe & story you truly do not want to skip!

Today we’re bringing you an essay from our Community Voices - authentic stories relating to families and food. We promise - you’re going to want to have this recipe, from Pen Parentis founder M. M. De Voe, in your back pocket for those days when you just can’t anymore.

Small Bites:

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Guilty Secret Poppy Seed Chicken

(for regular people who just can’t anymore)

By M. M. De Voe

Maybe you are a great cook but you really desperately need a night off.

Maybe you can’t afford takeout after that thing your daughter absolutely had to have.

Maybe tonight, you’re too busy to make something elaborate, honestly, too busy to breathe. When did everything get so hard? Where’s the break?

This is the break. It have could have your kids eat seconds and maybe thirds. Does that give you joy? This could be the best recipe you’ve ever seen.

Or hey, maybe you’ve just got chicken in your house (again) and you are so sick of your usual dishes you’re ready for something different.

Content Warning: This is not vegan. Not vegetarian. In fact, there are no vegetables in this recipe at all. Not one. It barely even GOES with vegetables. Maybe mushrooms. (Anyway mushrooms are probably sentient so who knows if we should even be eating them—when did every single choice become a moral quandary? Can we just stop?) Also this recipe is gluten-not-free. It has lactose. It’s high-calorie. High sodium. Involves pre-processed ingredients. Probably it’s not healthy in any way, shape, or form.

I mean, it’s still technically food.

Barely.

It is, however, unbelievably delicious and kids go crazy for it. Adults hate getting poppy seeds in their teeth, but grinning at your kids and asking them if you’ve got seeds in your teeth? Turns out this is VERY popular with the 10 and under set. And even teens will sometimes crack a smile. And having everyone spoon their own servings from the middle is surprisingly social and hard to do while holding a phone in your hand.