Post-meltdown recovery. The temperature hasn't changed (still 108, still hell) but my attitude has (adjusted, recalibrated, ice-creamed). Mom's advice worked the way Mom's advice always works: not by changing the situation, but by changing my relationship to the situation.
The desert is temporary. I am permanent. The kitchen is permanent. The food is permanent.
Ryan came home from the field exercise on Wednesday, sunburned and exhausted and smelling like the desert itself. He walked in and I had dinner on the table — not crockpot chicken (I gave myself a break from the crockpot this week) but Mom's sheet pan chicken. Chicken thighs, roasted vegetables, one pan, the oven used at 8 PM when the temperature drops to 95 and the kitchen becomes tolerable.
He ate two plates and said, 'I missed your cooking.'
'You missed me.'
'I missed your cooking AND you. In that order.'
The correct answer. I've trained him well.
The blog post this week was about the meltdown. I wrote about 3 PM in the desert, about calling Mom, about ice cream on the kitchen floor. I wrote about the moments when military wife life isn't cute or funny or inspirational — it's just hard. Just hot and lonely and hard.
'There's no recipe for a bad day,' I wrote. 'There's no casserole that fixes 110 degrees alone with a toddler. Sometimes the recipe is ice cream on the floor. Sometimes the recipe is calling your mom at 3 PM and crying. Sometimes the recipe is admitting that you can't do this today, even though you did it yesterday and you'll do it tomorrow. Today, you can't. And that's okay. Not every day is a dinner-at-1800 day. Some days are ice-cream-on-the-floor days. And those count too.'
Twenty thousand views. The most shared post since the pandemic columns. Because every woman — military wife or not — has had a 3 PM. Every woman has sat on a kitchen floor and thought: I can't. And every woman needs someone to say: eat the ice cream. Call me at seven.
The ice cream post. The most honest thing I've ever written. The thing that says: I'm not always okay. None of us are. But the kitchen is still here. And so am I.
Made Soo-Jin's Korean cucumber salad tonight. Cold. Refreshing. The recipe from Pendleton, eaten in the desert, traveling with me like a friend.
The desert is temporary. The recipes are permanent. And the ice cream is in the freezer.
This is the chicken I made when Ryan came home. Not because it’s fancy — it isn’t — but because it’s Mom’s kind of recipe: one pan, real ingredients, the oven doing most of the work after 8 PM when the desert finally lets you breathe. After a week of crockpot breaks and ice cream on the floor, I needed something that felt like a proper dinner, something that said you made it through without making me stand at the stove for an hour. Swiss Chicken Supreme — lightened up, one dish, done — was exactly that.
Makeover Swiss Chicken Supreme
Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 45 min | Total Time: 1 hr | Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 6 oz each)
- 6 slices reduced-fat Swiss cheese
- 1 can (10.5 oz) reduced-fat condensed cream of chicken soup
- 1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream
- 1/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 1/2 cups reduced-sodium stuffing mix (such as Pepperidge Farm herb seasoned)
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- Fresh parsley, chopped, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven. Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly coat a 9x13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- Arrange the chicken. Place chicken breasts in a single layer in the prepared baking dish. Season with garlic powder and black pepper. Lay one slice of Swiss cheese over each breast.
- Make the sauce. In a medium bowl, whisk together the condensed cream of chicken soup, sour cream, and chicken broth until smooth. Pour evenly over the chicken and cheese layer.
- Top with stuffing. Sprinkle the stuffing mix evenly over the sauce layer. Drizzle the melted butter over the stuffing.
- Bake uncovered. Bake for 40—45 minutes, until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165°F and the stuffing topping is golden and crisp.
- Rest and serve. Let the dish rest for 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with fresh parsley if desired. Serve directly from the pan.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 340 | Protein: 42g | Fat: 11g | Carbs: 16g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 580mg
About the cook who shared this
Rachel Abernathy
Week 276 of Rachel’s 30-year story
· San Diego, California
Rachel is a twenty-eight-year-old Marine wife and mom of two who has moved five times in six years and learned to cook a Thanksgiving dinner with half her cookware still in boxes. She married young, survived postpartum depression, and feeds her family of four on a junior Marine's salary with a freezer full of pre-made meals and a crockpot that has never let her down. She writes for the military spouses who are cooking dinner alone in base housing and wondering if they're enough. You are.
