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.

Jeri's Chicken Pot Pie

Yesterday was such a terrible day that I came home and did what my family has come to affectionately call Kitchen Therapy. Kitchen Therapy works well as a stress reliever for me. It usually includes cooking and cleaning the kitchen. I find it therapeutic to create food, maybe because my family enjoys eating it so much. When I am having Kitchen Therapy I don't even mind cleaning up the mess from the cooking.

It has been cold--that kind of cold that chills you to the bone so Chicken Pot Pies sounded so appealing. I have always liked chicken pot pies, but until about two years ago they seemed like too much work. A couple of years ago, my friend made them for our freezer meal group. They were easy and so yummy! My family loved them, so they have now joined the ranks of other favorite family recipes.

Budget Tip: After Thanksgiving, I had leftover gravy from the turkey and some leftover gravy from biscuits and gravy. I combined the two and added the vegetables and a little salt and pepper and the filling was great–better than with the cream of chicken soup. If you are a pie maker, obviously home made crusts are best; but if you aren't inclined to make pie crusts (which I am not), stock up on the frozen crusts when they are on sale and you will have them ready to make this a quick meal.

The basic recipe can be adapted by adding or deleting some of the vegetables or changing the kinds of vegetables you use. The filling can also be mixed together and frozen to use at another time when you need a quick meal.

I have also adapted this to use no milk by making a gravy like a white sauce using chicken broth instead of milk. I then use that instead of the creamed soup in the filling. It is yummy!

Jeri’s Chicken Pot Pie

½ cup chopped celery
½ cup chopped onion
1-2 Tablespoons butter or margarine
2-3 cups cooked chicken, cubed
1-2 cans cream of chicken soup with herbs
2 cups frozen mixed veggies
1 cup cooked potatoes, cubed
milk to thin
pepper

2 frozen pie crusts

NOTE: Measurements are approximate (believe it or not, this was the note from Jeri when she shared the recipe—my kind of recipe and my kind of cook!)

Sauté celery and onion in butter in large pot. Add soup then remaining ingredients.

Bake the bottom crust for a few minutes to prevent a soggy crust, then pile in the filling.

Turn a frozen crust over the filling, press down edges and cut slits in top to vent.

Bake at 350º for 30-45 minutes or until golden brown.

What I Do: I don’t use quite this much celery or chicken, of course.  I cube the potatoes before I cook them so that I only have to drain, then add them to the mixture. I usually just have cream of chicken soup on hand so I use that. I make two of these for five of us and usually it is all eaten, but everyone is full.


This filling freezes well (even though it has creamed soup). Thaw and add to crust that has been baked, cover with another crust and bake 30-45 minutes until golden brown.