Kid-approved chicken

Dependable recipes feed the whole family

Kelly and Kyle Johnson met while attending Georgetown College. They married and moved to Paducah in 2011. “It was moving back home for her,” Kyle says of his wife.

Kelly went to work for her father, an orthopedic surgeon, as a physician’s assistant. The couple bought an old house that Kyle renovated.  “That was kind of my job, along with farming 80 acres of row crops” on his father-in-law’s farm, he says.

Eventually, the acreage grew to 650. Three kids—Annalee, Ethan and Cora Marie—and two dogs were added to the family. Now, the plan is to fix up a house on the farm and add livestock. “My wife wants sheep,” says Kyle, shown left.

Like most working parents, getting family dinner on the table can be a challenge. Mondays they eat at Kelly’s parents’, and often they eat at church. 

When they do cook—usually on Tuesdays and Thursdays—they might share the job. “We’ve always enjoyed cooking together,” says Kyle. “We like one-pot meals.” When he cooks by himself, he tends to go “traditional meat, starch and vegetable.” One of his most dependable recipes is one that his kids love: chicken breast with mustard sauce.

Sarah Fritschner, founder of Grow Kentucky, works to increase farm-to-table sales throughout the state.