Chicken & Rice

An extra long work week and lack of sufficient time in the kitchen led to too many delivered meals at work and subsequently, a tired stomach. (I blame the frequent fast food meals on my co-workers for talking me into ordering with them... oh glorious french fries! Well, there was also my desire to make sure that certain friends were actually eating instead of watching their wallets, but that wasn't the main reason I caved to the lure of fried food. But too much fried food and sugar just makes me feel sick, regardless of how good it tastes.) Anyway, by Saturday night, all I could think about was eating something easy on the stomach, like the bland diet we recommend at work for patients with GI upset; namely, chicken and rice. Knowing me, I couldn't just leave it at just plain chicken and rice, so here's last night's Greek-inspired version of chicken and rice...

Ingredients:

brown rice, cooked (I had this left over from when I made soup earlier in the week)

olive oil

chicken breast, cooked and diced (again, I can't overstate the convenience of pre-cooked chicken breast strips straight from the package!)

spinach (fresh or frozen works equally as well)

oregano

pepper

feta, crumbled

Simply enough, saute the chicken and spinach in the olive oil over medium heat until the spinach has wilted and the chicken heats through. Stir in the oregano and pepper before adding the brown rice to reheat. Stir in the feta and serve.

Enjoy!

Turkey Vegetable Rice Soup

Clichés are cliché for a reason, and in this case, soup for the sick is the premise I’m working off of; the sick being me and the soup being my quick Turkey, Veg and Rice soup. Not feeling well and not wanting to go anywhere (as evidenced by the fact that I called out of work the last 2 days), I was able to pull this soup together using several of my panty staples. For once, I actually wasn’t in the mood for chicken noodle (my usual sick food standby) and I lucked out in finding some turkey breast cutlets in the freezer instead of my ever ready chicken breasts. So, next time you’re feeling under the weather, give this one a try…


Ingredients:

1 qt. chicken stock + ½ qt. vegetable stock (I needed a total of 6 cups of liquid and this is what I had on hand today though of course you could always use water)
2 bay leaves (what soup doesn’t have this in it?)
1 tsp. onion powder
½ tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. celery seed (normally I would start my soup with the classic mirepoix but I didn’t feel like chopping a pile of vegs)
1 lb. of turkey breast cutlets, diced into bite-sized pieces (you could always use chicken here instead)
2 Tbs. flour (you can always omit this part, but I like the slightly thicker texture this gives the soup)
2” strip of Parmesan rind (I like to save/freeze the rinds of Parmesan once the cheese is gone because it adds this amazing salty depth of flavor to soups)
1 bag of mixed or soup veg (always on hand in my freezer, this bag contained green beans, peas, carrots, corn, and lima beans)
8 sun dried tomatoes, diced (I like to use these instead of regular tomatoes because they add a sweet bite to the soup without being overpowering)
2 cups brown rice, slightly undercooked*
salt and pepper to taste
*In a medium sauce pan, bring to a boil 1 cup of brown rice (NOT the quick cooking kind!) and a little less than 2 cups (normally I use just over 2 cups for brown rice not being used in soup) of water or stock. Reduce heat to lowest setting, cover pot and walk away for 45 minutes. DO NOT OPEN THE LID!!! For perfect brown rice, let it simmer (covered) for 45 minutes then turn the heat off and leave the lid in place for another 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, remove the lid and fluff the rice with a fork. Trust me, it turns out perfect every time so long as you don’t open the lid.

Meanwhile, in a large soup pot over high heat, bring the stock to a boil and add in all the dried spices before dropping the heat to medium. Toss the turkey and flour together before adding it to the stock, stirring frequently, and allow to simmer, poaching the turkey, for 10 minutes before adding the Parmesan rind, frozen veg and sun dried tomatoes. Raise the heat to high and bring back to a boil, stirring frequently, for about 10 minutes or until the soup thickens slightly. Add in the brown rice and simmer for another 10-15 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!