Cheesy Chicken and Rice Bake

Tonight’s dinner was a total smorgasbord of stuff thrown into a baking dish with hopes of a positive result! Today got away from me and before I knew it it was time to start thinking about dinner! This is a rarity in our house that I do not have a dinner plan. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of nights, MORE than plenty of nights, where we are running from activity to activity after school and I just don’t have time to make dinner but I always have a take out plan. But tonight, I had nothing. I have had two very productive days working my eBay store, listing away like a crazy lady. I adore my eBay business, if you haven’t already you should check it out at Megz Gemz 4u. I get to bargain hunt (I rather like calling it that because shopping seems like a chore and I really am hunting and digging for gemz!), photo, list and make money right from my comfy home:-) Well, I’ve really been tackling the listing lately. We bought a new house, a brand new house, yipee, a little over a month ago. It’s awesome, simple and perfect for us! The problem is that during the move and transitioning my listing took a little bit of the back seat in the car of life. Our spare bedroom which is our treadmill or as I call it our “dreadmill” guest/ebay room was really appearing to look more like a thrift store! I mean for real, it was scary, it still kind of is. Clothes and shoes and whatnot, everywhere! While my listing took a back seat, my thrifting etc. did not! So I have a lot of items on hand right now! Even after all the work the past couple days most likely still have at least 100 items to photo and list! It’s so fun! So I’ve been diving back into my eBaying for the sake of my spare bedroom and because I have some great items people could be using and I could be getting paid for:-) So……this is why I got so busy I actually forgot a MEAL! This should be written down on the calander!

I refused to go to the grocery store at this point in the day so I found chicken in my freezer and brown rice in my pantry and with that anything is possible if you just keep digging through the pantry and fridge! I ended up with this yummy Cheesy Baked Chicken and Rice dish. It turned out really good for having no plan:-) Here’s what I did.

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts

Italian dressing for baking chicken

1 can heart healthy cream of chicken soup

1 can (use soup can) full of skim milk

2 cups uncooked brown rice

1 packet no sodium chicken bullion mix

2 large carrots, peeled and chopped into chunks

1 apple peeled and cut into chunks

package of frozen broccoli florets

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp rosemary

ground black pepper to taste

1 3/4 cups 2% shredded cheddar

Bring 4 cups of water, the chicken bullion packet and rice to a boil. Cover and reduce to low heat, stirring occasionally for about 45 minutes or until water is evaporated and rice is cooked. In the meantime bake the chicken in Italian dressing and a little ground pepper for about a half hour. Chop up the carrots and apple. While the rice and chicken are cooking empty soup contents into a casserole dish and mix in milk. Add the ground cumin, cinnamon, rosemary, and some pepper into the soup mixture and stir together well. In a sauce pan with about a cup of water, boil the carrots for about 5 minutes or until slightly tender, add broccoli for about 2 minutes then drain and set aside. When the chicken is done, chop it into chunks and then when the rice is done mix the chicken into it. Next stir the veggies into the rice mixture. Now add that rice/meat mixture into the soup mixture and stir well and also add in the apple. Mix in about a cup of the cheese. Cover and bake at 350 for about 25 minutes. Remove from oven, top with the rest of the cheese, some more pepper and sprinkle a little more rosemary on top. Place in warm over for about 2 more minutes to melt the cheese and then you are done! Let sit for about 10 minutes so it can cool a little and serve!