Chicken and Rice Casserole

I think it's the fact that I'm pregnant and kind of loathing grocery shopping lately...but I'm less and less dependant on recipes than I ever have been in the past. A few years ago you would never find me just "throwing something together". Even today I still usually LOOK for a recipe, but if I can't find what works with what I have...well let's just experiment. Today I had the problem of a jar of canned chicken open in the fridge and some sliced Provolone that needed to be used ASAP! So I put together this casserole. I was a little wary of it when I pulled it out of the oven and wondered if Provolone was meant to be baked, but it was really good. The kids even all liked it! Didn't get to try it out on Joey unfortunately because my brother came over and ate everything that was left :)

Chicken and Rice Casserole

1 pint canned chicken (I used this because I had it. You could use raw chicken and just bake it longer or cook it before you put it in with the rice)

2 C Rice (or so, didn't measure. I just made two scoops of rice in the rice cooker and used it all)

1 can green beans (could add more/different veggies if you prefer)

1 can cream of chicken soup (I'm sure you could use other cream soups if you prefer)

6 slices Provolone cheese (whatever you have on hand will work I'm sure!)

Mix together the chicken (I shredded mine first), rice, green beans and cream of chicken soup. Spread in a 9 x 12 glass baking pan. Top with slices of cheese. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

I didn't add any extra spices, although I'm sure salt, pepper, garlic salt or other like things would have been good. I also probably could have used two cans of soup for the amount of rice I had. It wasn't dry because the rice was plenty moist, but wasn't saucy by any means.

Also as a side note...the canned chicken...I bottled myself! I got a great deal on boneless skinless chicken breasts. They were "seconds" so not whole breasts, but they worked perfectly for this. It was very easy (although it DID stink up my house for a few hours...). I have never used a lot of canned chicken just because it's really expensive, but this was a really cheap way to do it. It also is a nice way to keep chicken for long periods of time, without taking up freezer space, worrying about freezer burn, etc. And it's really tender and already cooked when you get done! If you want more info, let me know and maybe I'll do a post on it.

Meat Pies

When I was living at home my mom would make these meat pies and my whole family loved them. I still make them for my family and my kids are always asking for me to make them.


Bisquick
1 pound hamburger( thawed out)
garlic salt
pepper
milk
1-2 eggs
1 can chili or homemade chili if desire

I mix up a double recipe of the biscuits that are on the side panel of the bisquick panel. It is basically bisquick and milk until it is biscuit consistency. I roll it out with a rolling pin on a floured surface.
Mix in a bowl 1 pound thawed out hamburger, one or two eggs, garlic salt, pepper and some milk so it is mixed together and can be spooned onto the rolled out biscuit dough. I use a fork and cover the biscuit dough that I have rolled out. Roll up jelly roll style and cut into about 1/2 in thick or desired thickness. Grease cookie sheet and put each individual meat pie onto the cookie sheet with it lying down.
Bake at about 375 degrees( might need to be higher depending on oven) about 15-20 min until they are brown. Heat up chili and serve over meat pies or my kids also enjoy catsup on them.

I hope you enjoy!!

Chicken and Veggies

The other day I was saved from Chicken Nuggets for lunch at daycare (which I despise by the way!) by this. I got a bunch of Lipton Onion Soup on sale and so I tried to find a "recipe" to use with what I wanted to do. I couldn't, so I just threw this together and it was great.

I cut up a bunch of veggies (carrots, potatoes, onions) and tossed them with one packet of dry onion soup mix. I then sprinkled another packet over the chicken. Sorry...no measurements...I just used enough to fill up a big glass cake pan. I would put the chicken on the bottom, I put mine on the top and it was a little dry. But it was really good flavor. Add a little water over the chicken, place the veggies on top and cook at 350 or so for 45 min - 1 hour (?) Sorry it's been a while since I made it. But you all get the idea right? I also think this would be probably even better in the crock pot. Good luck!

Chicken Stew

I love homemade chicken noodle soup, but I always feel guilty putting in store bought noodles. However sometimes homemade egg noodles are just too much. Besides I like breadsticks with my soup and when you have noodles it seems like overkill on the carbs sometimes. SO, I like to make chicken stew on occasion. Tonight I did just that. It's so easy and you can really throw in whatever you like. Here's how I did mine. This made a big batch of soup and some of the proportions are approximate because my sister was helping me out. But you get the idea right?

10 C of chicken broth (I used water and chicken boullion mix)

2 large carrots sliced (mine were REALLY big)

2-3 stalks of celery, sliced

1 onion, chopped (I was out of onions, so used minced dried onions for flavor)

Green Beans (I used one can, but I much prefer frozen or fresh if I have them on hand)

3-5 potatoes, chopped to bite size pieces

2 large chicken breasts

I get the water boiling and dump everything in as I get it cut up. Just make sure the chicken is cooked through and the veggies are tender. My sister likes to boil her chicken before hand and shred to put in, but that's one more step I didn't want to take tonight :)

Really could not be simpler than that. I'm sure you could add any other veggies you like. It's really hearty and perfect for days like today where it was a bit windy and cool.

Hamburger Steaks

Really simple tonight, but I was getting tired of looking at my stuffed pepper recipe on my other blog ;)  So the other night we had hamburgers, but no fixins for them.  So I made "hamburger steaks".  I cooked up the hamburgers and made brown gravy.  I actually didn't have any brown gravy mix, so just used Au Jus with cornstarch to thicken it up.  I served it over rice, but it would have been great over mashed potatoes.  There's really a lot of options, even when it seems like very few if you can get "think outside the [normal] menu".  I think we all need a few recipes like this that are literally five minute meals.  I need more than most lately! (If you don't know, I'm pregnant and cooking...not so much my favorite thing right now!!!)  If you have any...please post them!