Easy chicken and rice dinner

Seriously, it's easy. I'm a big fan of easy. I'm also a big fan of dry vegetable soup mix, apparently, since I'm using it in everything lately.

Boneless, skinless chicken breast tenders (any kind of boneless chicken will do, but you can't use big pieces like whole breasts. If you have large pieces, cut them to be smaller so they'll cook faster.)
1 cup white rice
3 cups water
1 package dry vegetable soup mix

Brown the chicken slightly in a little bit of oil. Nothing too major. If you over-brown, that's ok. Or if you forget to brown it, that's ok too. Whatever. Either way, use a really big skillet so you'll have room for everything (I used my 12-inch cast iron and it was just big enough). Then pour in your water and the veggie soup mix, and stir it to dissolve the powder and get everything evened out. Dump in your rice, and try to spread it evenly around the skillet. Make sure there's no rice hanging out on top of the chicken where it won't be in the water. Bring the water to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 20-25 minutes, until the rice is done and the chicken is cooked through.

This recipe serves 4, or maybe 5 depending on how much chicken you have and what sides you serve with it. I didn't serve any sides and it served the 4 of us with a few leftovers. As with my other chicken recipe, this would be great if you cut the chicken into small bite-size pieces, but I didn't and it was still good. I'm sure you could also bake this, but I have no idea how long you'd need to bake it, so if you go that route you're on your own.

Seasoned chicken and veggie bake

Lame title, but I don't know what else to call it, and I just made it up tonight. So yummy. I apologize for the large size of this dish, but you can adjust it as needed, or make the whole thing and freeze half for later. Also, I don't measure. Think of these amounts as rough estimates.

4 to 6 chicken leg quarters, skin removed (any cut of chicken will do)
1 package dry veggie soup mix
2.5-3 cups of water
2 small onions, chopped
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 cubes chicken bouillon
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
2 carrots, washed and sliced
2 stems of celery, washed and sliced

Brown the chicken, and transfer it into baking pans. (I needed a 9x13 and an 8x8 pan to hold everything.) In the same skillet where you browned the chicken, toss in your chopped onion and brown (add oil if necessary to keep it from sticking) and your flour. When onion is browned, add water, bouillon cube, soup mix, and pepper. Simmer until everything is dissolved and the mixture thickens slightly. Slice carrots and celery and scatter the slices amongst the chicken pieces. Pour your liquid over everything (if you use 2 pans, try to be judicious -- you don't want one pan swimming and the other one with like a drop). Cover with foil and bake at 350 for about 1 hour, or until the chicken is cooked through.

Serve with hot cooked brown rice. I added a little butter and Italian seasoning to my rice, but you can do yours however you want.

My husband also suggested cutting the chicken up into small chunks and mixing the chicken and veggies in with the rice, and serving it as a one-dish meal. It's an option, and it would be easy if you're using boneless chicken.

Kris's Favorite Fried Chicken...with Fried Onions, Fried Potatoes & Gravy

I got this chicken recipe about 8 years ago from "One Million Recipes" - it's a recipe book on a disc. Since that time we have tried a few other recipes but always come back to this one...so, this has become our OFFICIAL Fried Chicken recipe and I am not "allowed" (lol) to try any other ever again. The other recipes are from my grandmother. :-)

• 2 large chicken breasts, cut in 4ths
• Enough Crisco for deep frying

Seasoned Flour

• 3 c. all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp. garlic salt
• 1 Tbsp. pepper
• 1 Tbsp. paprika
• 1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning

CRISPY BATTER

• 1 1/3 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 2 beaten egg yolks
• 1 1/2 c. water

1. Heat Crisco to 365 degrees in deep saucepan or deep fryer to a depth of about 2 inches.
2. Combine ingredients for "seasoned flour" mix. Set aside.
3. Combine dry ingredients for "crispy batter" mix. Combine egg yolk and a little of water. Add egg/water mixture and remaining water to dry ingredients.
4. Dip chicken in seasoned flour, then batter, then back in seasoned flour.
5. Fry in hot Crisco for 12 to 15 minutes, or until well browned. (Throw in those clumps of mixture that are created by your coating - extra crispies are always yummy!) Drain on paper towels. If you are frying in batches, I recommend turning your oven to warm and placing the cooked chicken in the oven while the next batch is cooking.
6. When the chicken is done, do NOT throw away your batter - you'll need it. :-)

Fried Potatoes

• 5-6 potatoes, sliced about 1/4" thick
• oil for frying
• 1/4 of a medium-large sized onion, sliced or diced
• 2-3 garlic cloves, sliced
• salt & pepper

1. Heat oil on med to med-high heat. While oil is heating, line a colander (preferably metal) with paper towels.
2. Carefully put potatoes, onion, and garlic into pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Let cook for a minute or two, then stir and sprinkle again. If you have a lid, cover the potatoes. If not, it works but takes a little longer to cook through. Cook the potatoes stirring every 1-3 minutes until soft to touch. Place in lined colander. If the chicken is not done, the potatoes will also keep nicely in a warm oven.

Fried Onions

• 3/4 medium-large sized onion, cut into pieces (preferred size)
• leftover fried chicken batter mix

1. Rinse onion pieces. Shake off excess, but do not dry.
2. Dip in flour mix, then crispy mix, then flour mix.
3. Carefully place in deep fryer and cook for about 3 minutes.

Gravy

• 6 Tbsp oil from deep fryer
• 4 Tbsp flour mix from chicken/onions
• 3 c milk

1. Heat oil in pan on med-high until very hot (if you use it immediately after getting from fryer, this will take about 10 seconds).
2. Add flour mix and stir until well mixed and starting to brown.
3. Gradually add milk while stirring.
4. Continue stirring until gravy is completely mixed and has reached your preferred consistency.

Obviously, this meal is SOOOO not good for you...but tastes SOOOOOOOOO good! If you feel guilty, throw in some fresh green beans and corn on the cob. That's what we did! (BTW, the batter is fabulous for anything you have a mind to fry...my excess batter is usually used for experiments.)

EASY Chicken Pot Pie

ingredients:

one can each: (drain all veggies but one...doesn't matter which one)
carrots
peas
grean beans
corn
mushrooms
cr. mushroom soup
cr. chicken soup
cooked and cut up boneless chicken
biscuits (canned, home made, bisquick)

in a large baking dish, mix all ingredients except biscuits. season this mixture to your liking. we used garlic powder, dried onions, salt, and pepper. once it's all mixed up and smelling yummy, cover the top with your biscuits.

i baked this at 400 for about 10 minutes. the biscuit tops were done but the bottoms were gooey and the "stew" wasn't as hot as it could have been. i think that lowering the temp and cooking longer might do the trick. remember...it's all cooked already...you are just heating it up and cooking the biscuits.

have fun with it and make it yours. i'd also suggest seasoning the chicken separately. i thought ours was a little bland. dh said to not even worry about putting the left overs away, he was going to "work on it" for a little while longer.

Moroccan Hotpot

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
4 chicken breasts, boneless and skinned
1 large red onion
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 red pepper
100g/4 oz no-soak dried apricots
1 tbsp ground corinader
1 tbsp ground cumin
half tsp tumeric
rind and juice of 1 lemon
300 ml/half pint/1 1/4 cup chicken stock
salt and pepper
225g / 8 oz/ just under a cup couscous
3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander/cilantro

Method

1)Slice chicken. Peel and chop onion. Deseed and slice pepper.

2)Add oil to frying pan,or if your crock pot has a detachable base, fry chicken until brown. Add onion, garlic and red pepper and fry until soft. Add apricots and spices and cook for 1 min while stirring.

3)Add lemon rind and juice and chicken stock and bring to boil. Season well.

4)Transfer to crockpot. Cook for 5 hours on high, 8 on medium. Stir in couscous quickly and cook for 5 mins. Sprinkle with coriander.

Variations

Lamb instead of chicken is good.

Use eggplant, courgette or beans instead of chicken.

Honey and mustard chicken salad

Ingredients

half a melon ( I use a mix of different types of melon, watermelon adds a splash of colour)
2 kiwi fruit

2 tsp prepared mustard ( heat to your taste, I prefer Dijon)
1 tbsp whole grain mustard
2 tsp runny honey
1 tbsp lemon juice or white wine vinegar
5 tbsp olive oil

4 chicken breasts, skinned and boned
1 clove of garlic, crushed
salt and pepper

mixed salad leaves

Method

1) Scoop out seeds and using a melon baller( or spoon)make melon balls.
Peel kiwi fruit cut in half lengthways and slice

2) Make the dressing by combining mustards, honey, lemon juice or white wine vinegar and 2 tbsps of olive oil. Whisk together and season with salt and pepper.

3) Cut chicken in 1cm ( half inch) cubes. Heat remaining oil and fry chicken over moderate heat for 8-10 mins until chicken is browned and tender. Remove from heat and add crushed garlicstir into chicken and season with salt and pepper.

4) Mix chicken, fruit and salad dressing in a large bowl until everything is well coated in the dressing. Taste and season if necesary. Put salad leaves on plate and spoon chicken and fruit mix on to the leaves.