Hearty Dinner on a Chilly Chilly Day!

Good Continuing Cold Front Monday...

Man I tell ya, it was an absolute lie that it doesn't get cold in the south because we were colder than Anchorage, Alaska this morning.. no I'm not lying! I had to go to the grocery store today and I legit wore a parka, scarf and my Uggs. I made a point to throw in that new scarves are welcome as I WILL use them here too! HA!

We have completely finished our shopping for Thanksgiving dinner and everyone shall be arriving on Wednesday! I think Brianne and I will run out and probably get a few last minute things because there is always something, but for the most part I am very confident! Tomorrow I plan to bake homemade Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies which a recipe may or may not appear on the blog afterwards! I am going to get a lot of things done for snacks for Wednesday and Thursday tomorrow... you know all the good stuff, crackers and cheese, veggies and dip! I want to have minimal stuff to do on Wednesday so we can all just enjoy each others company before Thursday day of cooking commences!

Today Jason headed out early to do some Christmas shopping, I was surely surprised when he came home with an armful of things! Jason is such a perfectionist that he usually makes about 5 trips to the mall before he actually buys anything, so I am quite interested to find out what he bought. I cant peek though because he already wrapped everything.. rats! He knows me well.

When Jason got home I headed out to the grocery store while Jason wrapped and waited for the cabinet guy to come. We were anxious for that to get taken care of so we could check something off our list, we should have assumed it would not be that easy. The guy showed up, the guy who has done all the work to the cabinets since we have been in the house. He replaced the cabinet door and as I sat on the couch looking at it I seriously thought it was a different color then the rest! I looked and looked and finally when he went outside Jason jumped up and we were like.. not only is this one scratched but it is definitely a different color. When the guy came back in Jason told him the issue, he claimed not to see it and so Jason said screw it put the other door you just took off back on, we are not dealing with this shit anymore. The miserable old jerk was cranky about it but did what we asked and then left. So no fix was accomplished.

After the grinch left and I decided to make one of our favorite dinners, and although I admittedly hate blogging about food and recipes because I just don't feel like I am very good at it, I thought I would give it a go, yet again! So here is it ladies and gents... Chicken and Rice casserole.

Disclaimer: If I have already done this, forgive me as my memory is terrible I did however take a quick peek and did not seem to find a similar post.. if it exists.. my apologies!

This morning while Jason was out Christmas shopping and I was home sans vehicle to get anywhere I thought it would be a good idea to get a head start on dinner and chop the veggies as it takes a lot of time because Jason insists they be chopped as finely as possible. The Ulu makes that a lot easier!

Again if you do not have an Ulu knife, you don't know what you are missing! I got mine directly from the Ulu Factory when we lived in Alaska but you can order them online as well! I highly recommend it! 

The veggies you use in this dish is completely up to you, it is all to taste.. if it was up to me the more the better! Because this is something that Jason really enjoys I use veggies that I can cook down and he will actually eat. I chopped a good bunch of onions, celery, carrots and mushrooms. 

This afternoon when I decided to start cooking my veggies were already ready which is always a plus. I heated some extra virgin olive oil in a skillet and added my veggies. 

I added some kosher salt and cracked black pepper and let it cook away! 

In another pot I boiled water for the rice. For this dish you can use any rice you want, I have had to use others because this particular rice you cant get in the States for some reason but I was lucky enough to have it on hand this time as my Mom brought it when she came to visit. As the water is boiling before adding the rice I add one Knorr Homestyle Chicken Stock gel cube. 

Cook the rice as directed on the packaging as the rice you use may require different instruction then this particular product. 

While everything was cooking away I had boneless skinless chicken breast baking in the over. If you wanted to you could cook your chicken in the skillet as well but I prefer to cook it in the oven with spices and then chop it up and add to the sauteed veggies! 

I add another Homestyle Stock Cube to the chicken and veggies with a half a cup of water. I cook it on high for about 10 minutes so all the flavor marry together. 

When all is complete you can choose a casserole dish of your liking, I used a regular rectangular Pyrex of a decent depth as you will need a decent amount of room. 

You will start with your chicken veggie mix, you can layer if you want but I generally put the entire contents in the bottom of the dish before layering the completed rice on top. 

Finished rice above. 

Chicken and veggies in the bottom of your dish..

I then put the rice on top of the dish and you are done! Warning: if your veggies and rice are not cool be careful as the pyrex dish can get extremely hot! You can finish the dish anyway you want, you can add cheese on top, you can add whatever you want really. This dish can absolutely be made vegetarian, you can add more veggies and minus the chicken. You can also substitute Knorr Homestyle Vegetable Stock for the chicken stock. 

It really is a super simple recipe, this will literally feed us for days! I have in the past added fresh green beans and asparagus! I love a recipe that you can make your own, change up whenever you the urge strikes and I hope you enjoy it too! 

Like I said you can also take an unhealthy turn and add a little cheese on top, which I did to please my hubby and then I baked it just long enough to heat up! The longer it sits the better so tomorrow it will taste just as good if not better!!

Give it a try, make it your own!! Enjoy!!