Chicken and rice

I’m a huge fan of chicken and rice, but I often dislike the treatment it receives. To be good, it has to be moist and flavorful, like someone’s grandmother might have made. I’ve had more bland chicken and rice in this life than I’d like to recall, but somehow tonight I decided, that’s what’s for dinner. I got some chicken defrosted, some onions and mushrooms chopped, and the oven preheated….and then discovered I’m apparently out of rice.

Now, I’m a pantry shopper. I buy more beans when I have two cans left. I usually have 2-3 lbs. of butter and 10 lbs. of brown sugar in the freezer. So the inability to find any kind of rice in my cabinet certainly alarmed me. In fact, when something like that happens, I don’t believe it, and search the pantry 3-4 times before I give up. Tonight, "giving up" meant dragging the 2yo to the store when he was hungry for dinner — rarely a winning idea — but it allowed me to pick up some Diet Coke [with Splenda of course....no Nutrasweet around here], another item I’d inexplicably allowed myself to run out of. Since I’m not a coffee drinker, the Diet Coke makes everyone happier in the morning. I’m totally grumpy without it. :)

Here’s how I did the chicken and rice. I was really pleased with how it turned out. And leftovers enough to help us start the week right!

Chicken and Rice
2 chicken breasts [If you found a recipe this size in a cookbook, it would call for 4 chicken breasts, but I always half the meat in recipes.]
1 medium onion, chopped
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
1 cup rice [I used brown basmati rice]
2 c. chicken broth
1/4 c. sherry
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed or diced
2 T. butter [but next time I'll just use one. It was rich and delicious with 2, but I think I'll like it better a tad lighter.]
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients in 2 qt. casserole. I sprayed it with cooking spray first, and that was probably a good idea.

Cover and bake at 350-375 for an hour or so until chicken is tender and water is evaporated/soaked up by the rice.