Chicken and Rice

This is one of my family's favorite recipes and it is so easy. It is also very filling so even if you have carnivores at your house, like some of my kids, a couple of pieces of chicken a piece is adequate. I have made this with chicken breasts, but they are not my favorite part of the chicken.

I usually at least double the rice for this amount of chicken. My family really likes the rice so I make lots of it! Be sure to use a deep 9 x 13 pan if you double the rice because you need to also allow room for placing the chicken on top of the rice mixture.

Budget Tip: I usually use leg quarters because they are more frequently on sale and in my freezer.

I can usually serve a couple of vegetables in addition to the salad to add a little color and nutrition to the meal.

Chicken and Rice

1 can Campbell's chicken gumbo soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 soup can of water
2 cups uncooked rice
1 whole chicken, cut up
1 package dry onion soup mix

Mix all but chicken in large buttered pan (9" x 13"). Sprikle 1/2 onion soup on mixture. Place pieces skin sides down on top--sprinkle rest of onion soup on chicken. Cover and seal with foil. Bake 2 hours at 325º or 3 hours at 300º.

What I Do: For years I used the onion soup mix, however, one time I didn't have any and the meal was fine. Also, I have tried other chicken gumbo soups when Campbell's has been hard to find, but Campbell's really makes the best flavored rice. However, the brands of the other soup does not matter. When I double, triple, or quadruple this recipe of rice, which I usually have done, I add the proportionate amount of the other ingredients (except chicken) except use 2 cans of water per recipe instead of one.

NOTE: Someone recently told me that they always make this with 2 cans cream of chicken soup, 2 cans cream of mushroom soup, 2 cans of water, and 2 cups of rice. I have made the rice without the chicken gumbo soup, but my family prefers it with.

Chicken Stir-Fry

This continues to be a flexible and economical meal as well as a family favorite. While my family does eat beef, we prefer chicken for stir-fry meals. I usually buy chicken breasts when they are on sale, then bag them in 2 or 3 before I put them in the freezer. Now that there are not so many of us at home, I can probably use only one chicken breast for this meal; however, when more kids were at home, I could make a meal for 8, with 4 large eaters, with only 2-3 chicken breasts.

This meal can be expanded easily by adding more carrots or broccoli or adding other vegetables of your choice. I just find that the carrots and broccoli are bulkier than some other vegetables.

I have tried other juices and my family prefers apple.Yesterday I forgot to add the soy sauce to the sauce and even for my sweet tooth, it was TOO sweet. Although this sauce only uses a small amount of soy sauce, it balances the sweet apple juice.

One day I was out of cornstarch so I mixed the apple juice with a 1/4 cup flour until the flour was "dissolved" and it worked fine.

Chicken Stir Fry

1 Tablespoon oil
2 cups small broccoli flowerets
6 green onions
¼ cup gingerroot—cut into 1” toothpick size pieces (kind of julienned)

Stir fry and remove.

1 pound chicken breast cut into bite size pieces

Stir fry, add sauce. When sauce is thick, add vegetables and mix well. Serve over hot rice.

Sauce:

1 Tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon dry mustard
2/3 cup chicken broth
3 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 Tablespoons apple juice

Stir fry 3 medium zucchini shredded—about 4 cups—for 1 ½ minutes then arrange on a serving platter. Top with chicken mixture.

What I Do: I use 1-2 chicken breasts and add quite a few carrots when I stir fry the vegetables. Start the carrots first because they take the longest to cook. We prefer the gingerroot grated and added to the sauce. We like this sauce, it is very light and kind of glazes the chicken and vegetables, sometimes I omit the mustard. We like zucchini, yellow squash, cauliflower, green peppers, red peppers, and other vegetables added to this; although cauliflower is not our favorite. I often omit some of the other vegetables, but my family has decided that stir-fry MUST have broccoli and carrots. I sometimes use yellow or white onions instead of the green onions, although I prefer the green onions. I always serve this over rice, allowing 1-2 cups of rice per person.

See's Chocolate Fudge

How can it be that it has been a whole month since I posted? The holidays and extra snow made baking especially fun. The chocolate fudge recipe has been requested by several people so I am starting the new year posting it.

In the early 70s, the popular story going around was that this was the recipe that the See's Candy Stores in California used for their chocolate fudge. We all liked, and still like, See's candy so this became a popular recipe with my family. Truthfully, I don't think this is the real recipe because, although I really like the creaminess and flavor of this fudge, it isn't quite the same as See's. But this will always be the "See's Fudge" recipe to me!

Joyce was my mother’s cousin. She made this fudge for Christmas every year for everyone. One year she made 100 pounds of fudge for the family Christmas get together! I cannot even imagine 100 pounds of fudge! I was a young teenager at the time and didn't really pay that close of attention to what 100 pounds of fudge really looked like, but I am quite sure that I have never since seen that much fudge all in one place. Enjoy!

See's Fudge
Joyce

4 1/2 cups sugar
1 (12 oz.) can evaporated milk
18 oz. Nestle's chocolate chips
1/2 pound butter or margarine
2 cups chopped walnuts
1-7 oz. jar marshmallow cream

Put sugar and milk in kettle and bring to rolling boil for 20 minutes, stirring constantly. Put chocolate chips, margarine, and marshmallow cream in a large bowl or pot. Pour milk mixture over the contents in the bowl and beat until creamy. Add walnuts, mix well, and pour into a buttered 9 x 13" pan and let set until firm.

What I Do: I usually use margarine. When I make this for my mom, she doesn't like the nuts cut at all. I use my Kitchen Aid mixer to beat this, unlike the old days when the sign of a good fudge maker was how well they could beat the fudge. However, even in my 6 quart mixing bowl, a double batch really is too much for the mixer bowl although you can do it. Just prepare to clean up a little bit of a mess and be VERY careful when you start the mixer.