Chicken and Rice Casserole

I was trying to replicate a classic recipe my grandma used to make us. It was so good. This is close, but not the same. I will definitely keep trying though! Since it wasn't the same, I didn't love it, but my husband and 8 year old were HUGE fans. When your 8 year old eats something without complaining, you know you've done a good job.  This is the recipe for how I made it tonight, but at the end, I'll write some possible modifications, and you can look at the pictures and judge for yourself!

Chicken and Rice Casserole Recipe
Ingredients:
3 chicken breasts, cubed
2 cups of water
2 cups of instant brown rice
1 (10.75 oz) can of cream of chicken soup
1 (10.75 oz) can of cream of mushroom soup
1 (10.75 oz) can of cream of celery soup
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup of butter, sliced thinly
about 1 1/2 to 2 cups of cheddar cheese 

Directions :
1.Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 baking dish.
2. Mix together chicken, water, rice, and soups in the casserole dish (do it gently or you'll slosh stuff out)
3. Add salt and pepper over the top of it.
4. Arrange butter slices evenly apart on top.
5. Bake for approx 60 minutes.
6. Take out dish, and sprinkle cheese all over the top, put back in the oven for approx. 10 minutes or until cheese is bubbly. Cool for about 10-15 minutes before serving.


Now for some pictures!
First here are the ingredients minus the cheese and water.

 

This is how it looked after adding everything, and lastly the soup. Kind of gross looking.

 This is how it looked all stirred together with the butter on top.

And the finished product:

Now I haven't TRIED these suggestions, but this what I might possibly do in the future. For one, I would either add an additional cup of rice and water OR omit the cream of chicken soup. I would also add some chopped celery and fresh mushrooms to it. The next time I make it, I will try these modifications and report back on my findings. :)

But don't forget! My husband and 8 year old son LOVED it just the way it was, so I'd suggest making it that way first, then messing around with it to see how you might like to change it. 

Easy Egg Salad Sandwich Recipe

This is a really great base recipe with the right proportions of egg, mustard, and mayo for you to be able to add your own extra like celery or bell pepper or whatever you're into.

Egg Salad

Ingredients:

8 eggs
1/2 cup of mayonnaise
1 tsp prepared yellow mustard (or dijon if you like that)
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 tsp paprika

Directions:

1. Place eggs in sauce pan and cover with water. Bring to boil and immediately remove from heat. Cover eggs and let them sit in the hot water for 10-15 minutes. Remove from water, cool, peel, and chop.
2. Place chopped eggs in a bowl, and stir in mayo, mustard, salt, pepper, paprika and all your other optional ingredients. Stir and serve on bread or crackers!



Some variations may include adding chopped green onion, or celery, bell pepper, adding dill (which can be strong so be careful). We tried it with the chopped celery once, and we weren't into it. I think the above recipe with some Dill on bread with lettuce is delicious! The lettuce adds some crispness without any intense flavors, so you can really enjoy your egg salad.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

I got this recipe from my wonderful and talented cousin's blog Eating True. Go HERE for the recipe.

Here are the final results! Nom nom nom! It was delicious! My husband prefers his banana bread sweet but without chocolate, so I may try it without chocolate chips, and adding 1/2 cup white sugar. I am pretty sure the chocolate was my favorite part though. :)

Fall

Fall is one of my most favorite times of the year! Here in Southern California, we get our own special variation of fall where flip-flops are still widely acceptable!

One of the best parts of fall is pumpkin flavored anything. I am talking about pumpkin spice lattes (or iced), pumpkin cookies and muffins, pumpkin pie, pumpkin pancakes. Pumpkin galore! I almost forgot pumpkin ice cream from Trader Joe's! Mmmmmm!

Pumpkin Cookies

Now, I am not sure where I found this recipe, but it is amazing. I was a huge fan of Starbucks pumpkin bread, and I think this is even better. The cookies have a cake like consistency and are pretty much AMAZING!

Iced Pumpkin Cookies
Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

(can subsititute 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice and 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon instead of other spices)
Icing Ingredients

• 1 cup confectioners sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoon milk
• 1/2 tablespoon melted better
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt; set aside.
2. In medium bowl, cream together 1/2 cup of butter and sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, vanilla to butter mixture until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls, flatten slightly.
3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in oven. Cool cookies then drizzle glaze with fork.
4. To make glaze combine confectioners sugar, milk, butter, and vanilla. Add milk as needed to achieve drizzling consistency. 

If you make these, you will not regret it! They are even good without the icing.
Happy Baking, friends!

Potluck Palooza

The company I work for had a potluck today for memorial day. I brought a side dish and a dessert. Side dishes can be tricky for potlucks I've come to realize, because cold food is easier to keep at work when you only have a microwave at your disposal for heating things up. But I decided to crockpot my side dish, so we'd have something warm. I also brought pie. I tend to like to bring cookies to things because I just love baking cookies, but with all the lemons gracing our tree in the backyard, a lemon meringue pie was hard to resist. I like to use a Martha Stewart recipe from her food magazine for my pie. It always turns out delicious!

Her recipe calls to follow part of a lemon curd recipe so here are links to both: Martha's Lemon Meringue Pie and Martha's Lemon Curd. For pie crust, I cheat and buy Marie Calendars already made crusts, because after all, I am a busy woman, and they come in two packs, and it's great reason to make another pie!

So here it is before the meringue

 And, of course, the final product!

Back to the side dish! It was just a calico beans recipe. If you've never made them, and you like baked beans, this is a great dish. A lot of the recipes online call for ground beef also, but the recipe I used did not. The beans are a great easy side dish for this potluck, but also great for when you're making something on the grill, whether it's hot dogs and burgers, or just some chicken breasts, and it's really easy, and clean up is a breeze when you use a crockpot liner (best invention ever).

Calico Beans

We don't have any special Memorial Day plans, so it was nice to have a little work gathering to celebrate the three day weekend!