Chicken and Rice - Super Easy but Partially Processed Version

Chicken and rice should be easy. But let me tell you a little story. It was several years ago. We had gotten a dog from the local animal shelter that day. My husband was flying out of state the following morning. The dog was skittish and kept going to the bathroom in the house. I was completely clueless about training dogs (still am) and kept taking him outside to go to the bathroom, leaving my 2 year old in the house unattended. The dog would grab onto the leash with his mouth and play tug-of-war.

It was not a good night. 

I made chicken and rice in the oven.

The rice didn't cook properly.

My husband was sick on the airplane the next day.

I did not attempt chicken and rice again.

Until last Friday when I was asked to make a dish for my women's group. I was given the recipe. I followed it precisely. It took twice as long to cook as the directions claimed.

Why would I attempt chicken and rice again?  I don't know.

But I did last night.

Now do not make fun of me for waffling, as I am known to do. This dish has one can of cream of chicken soup in it. And a packet of onion soup mix I know, I know. I am still trying to wean off processed foods, but if you have read my Happy Homemaker Monday posts then you know that I am a little busy. So, instead of trying the from scratch version I referenced above, I went to this version from AllRecipes.com:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/easy-and-delicious-chicken-and-rice-casserole/

It was delicious.

The chicken was sooooo moist. And everything was tasty. Yum.

So here it is for my future reference and yours:

Easy Chicken and Rice

1 C uncooked rice

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 7/8 C water

1 package onion soup mix

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

spread rice on bottom of 9x13 baking pan

place chicken breast on top of rice

mix cream soup and water, pour over chicken

sprinkle with onion soup mix

cover with foil

bake at 350 for 1 1/2 hours

remove from oven and serve

*We returned the dog to the shelter the next day and got a kitten instead.

My Most Popular Recipe

By popular, I mean the most requested by my kids and my sister (which I take as a particularly wonderful compliment because she is a much better cook than I), and which recipe I have given out more than others. And it is so ridiculously easy. Not particularly healthy though.

I was surprised to find that I did not already put it on the blog. I guess I didn't bother because I already know this one so well that I don't need to write it down. I make it so often that I stockpile lasagna noodles when they are on sale.

So here it is:

The Easiest Lasagna Recipe Using Regular Lasagna Noodles Ever. No, really.

Once again the ingredients are important, so pay attention to my notes, please. Thank you.

Abt 8 regular lasagna noodles (not the no cook kind, although you are not going to cook them ahead of time)
Abt 16 oz ricotta cheese. Now let's talk a minute about the cheese. I have lived just about all of my life on the east coast in a heavy Italian populated area. So we do not put cottage cheese in our Italian cooking instead of ricotta. Is it just as good? I have no idea, because I have never tried it. It may be easier to spread than ricotta, but I'm sticking with the ricotta.  And by the way, around here it is pronounced rig-GOT, not rick-cot-a. But if you do not live in a heavily Italian populated area, (or in the northeast) and you asked for rig-got, they probably would have no idea what you are talking about. And no one laughs at you if you say rick-cot-a instead. They just think that you do not have an ounce of Italian in you. I'll have you know that I am 1/500 Italian. I don't think that counts.

And while we are talking about Italian pronunciations, do you know that there are still pizza places around here that spell it APIZZA? It is pronounced a-beets, not peetsa. But really it is just the old timers that call it a-beets; peetsa has become the norm. But when I was a kid I didn't understand why there was an A in front of the word pizza.

Ingredients?  Oh yea,

lasagna noodles (see above)
ricotta cheese (see above)
12 oz. (or thereabouts) of mozzarella cheese, shredded
abt 1/4 C parmesan cheese
32 ounce tomato/pasta sauce.  Here is the thing. You do not want a thick, sweet sauce like Ragu or Prego. I buy Sclafani, but that may not be available nationwide. My sister used Francesco Rinaldi marinara and it was very good too.

Lastly, and optional, 1 pound ground beef

The great thing about this recipe is that you can easily adapt it to your liking, and measurements do not have to be exact. The sauce is really the most important choice you are going to make.

So here is what you do:

Brown ground beef if you are using it, then add sauce and 3/4 C of water and heat. (If you are not using ground beef, you can pour the sauce right from the jar into the lasagna pan without heating it first and don't add water)

Layer ingredients in a 9x13 baking pan as such:

@ 1/3 sauce

@ 4 lasagna noodles - uncooked (or as many as will make a nice layer in your pan. Snap off some of the noodle to make it fit.)

@ 1/2 of ricotta cheese

@ 1/2 of shredded mozzarella

@ 1/8 C parmesian cheese (I do not measure, just give it a good shake all over)

@ 1/2 of remaining sauce

another 4 noodles

rest of ricotta cheese

rest of mozzarella cheese

1/8 C (or good shake all over) parmesian cheese

rest of sauce

Yes, the noodles will slip around on you as you try to spread the ricotta. It will get messy. No one cares. Just do the best you can, but don't worry, it will still taste great.

Cover pan

Bake @ 375 for about an hour (edges should be bubbly)

Let sit for about 10-15 minutes

EAT!

This is a very saucy version (hence why it is important to choose a good sauce), so serve some bread with it to help eat up the sauce.

It seems like a lot of work because I go on and on, but it is really easy, as lasagnas go, and everyone loves it. It will be whipping up two for my brood. It was my soon-to-be 14 year old's birthday dinner request.

Maybe I will take pictures and add them later. Maybe.

No Leftover Baked Ziti

The original recipe came from the Food Network but this is how I made it:

One pound ziti, cooked al dente

1 1/2 jars Testa's Marinara Sauce (this is made locally, so you will have to use 4 C of a really, really good marinara sauce)

1/4 C freshly grated pecorino romano cheese

1/2 C freshly grated parmesan cheese, divided

1 pound fresh mozzarella cheese

cut half of the mozzarella into small cubes and mix with 1/4 C parmesan and the rest of the ingredients

pour into a slightly oiled baking pan

slice rest of mozzarella into thin slices and lay over top of ziti

shake remainder of parmesan on top of all

bake uncovered in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes or until slightly browned

* The key to this recipe is the quality of the ingredients. Yes, this would be yummy with regular cheeses and some other jarred sauce, but sometimes you want something really special. This is it.

Dinner Anyone?

(photo courtesy of Sandra @ www.fullbellies.blogspot.com)

Last week I made two meals. TWO. It was one of those weeks.
But one of the reasons I only made two is because we had lots of leftovers.
One that I made was this yummy goodness from Sandra.

Virginia's Baked Spaghetti

I should write some kind of review, I suppose. It was creamy, cheesy, hardy, warm, and delicious. How's that? Sandra warns that this recipe makes a lot, and she is right. It took three dinners for us to finish it. This is being archived under potlucks and missionary dinners. The only thing I would do differently is break up the spaghetti into small pieces before cooking (or cut it up after cooking). You could also use a different pasta, but it might not fit in the dish if you are cooking a full recipe because other pastas are bulkier.

Check out Sandra's cooking blog, Full Bellies, Happy Kids for more delicious recipes. Let me know if you try anything else.