Comfort Food

Sorry, gentle readers...a weekend went by without me taking new photos, so this will be a rather boring entry. Oh well. We had a great weekend, though - the weather was beautiful! We took a hike on Saturday with our neighbor's dog, Ruby (who is almost the best dog I know other than Luther, Julie & Greg's golden retriever). I learned that one should never visit Costco the Saturday before Thanksgiving, even for cheap PJs. The Utes beat BYU, securing a likely spot in a good bowl game. I survived a terrible sore throat. Freddy slept well and was 'happy Freddy' most of the weekend. We took Freddy to one of the community pools on Sunday morning (for the first time) with Greg and Charlie, and he loved it! The water was really warm, and once he got used to the noise from the fountains and echo-y room, he had a blast. Fell asleep on the way home, and didn't wake up during the transfer from car to crib, thereby skipping lunch. And Bill won his Sunday night hockey game.

I made the same casserole three times - once for us, once for our friend Idie who has a 2-week-old baby boy, Jack, and once for Julie who is due in about 2 weeks with baby Will. It's pretty basic - one of those 'how to use what you have in the fridge for an easy weeknight meal' kinds of things, but here it is, for anyone who needs an easy comfort food recipe. I should say that my other favorite chicken and rice casserole is the Chinese Chicken Casserole from Southern Living (thanks to my mom and sister for introducing me to that one!). I usually add extra mushrooms and black pepper, and sometimes some cayenne:

Creamy Chicken-and-Rice Casserole

Ingredients

• 1 (6.9-ounce) package one-third-less-salt chicken-flavored rice-and-vermicelli mix with chicken broth and herbs
• 1 tablespoon margarine
• 2 1/4 cups hot water
• Vegetable cooking spray
• 1 1/2 pounds skinned, boned chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 cup presliced fresh mushrooms
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 3/4 cup nonfat sour cream
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 (10 3/4-ounce) can reduced-fat, reduced-sodium condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
• 1/4 cup crushed multigrain crackers (about 6 crackers)
• 1 tablespoon margarine, melted
• 1/2 teaspoon poppy seeds (I usually skip these, for some reason)
  

Cook rice mix in a large nonstick skillet according to package directions, using 1 tablespoon margarine and 2 1/4 cups hot water. Remove mixture from skillet; set aside. Wipe skillet with a paper towel.

Coat the skillet with cooking spray, and place over high heat until hot. Add chicken, mushrooms, and garlic powder; sauté 6 minutes or until chicken loses its pink color. Combine rice mixture, chicken mixture, sour cream, pepper, and soup in a bowl; stir well. Spoon mixture into a 2-quart casserole coated with cooking spray. Combine cracker crumbs, margarine, and poppy seeds; stir well, and sprinkle over chicken mixture. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

Make-Ahead Tips: You can assemble the casserole ahead of time, omitting the cracker-crumb mixture; cover and chill in the refrigerator or freeze (thaw frozen casserole overnight in refrigerator). Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes; top with cracker-crumb mixture, and bake as directed.