More than just chicken and rice

So I've been cooking a little bit again... but due to my situation the food has been so boring it's not worth writing about.  Until now!  I stumbled across something that turned out surprisingly good, good enough that I want to remember it and make it again!

I accidentally made rice taste like stuffing*.  Not bad, right?

Secret Ingredient Chicken and Rice Casserole

• 2 large-ish chicken breasts, cut into (roughly) bite-sized pieces
• 5 or so carrots - washed, peeled, and chopped
• 1 medium zucchini - quartered lengthwise and chopped
• 1.5 cups of white rice (you could probably use brown, but I had white)
• 1.5 cups leftover mushroom broth
• 1 cup water
• Olive Oil (1-2 tsp?)
• Salt (1/2 to 1 tsp? Husband likes salty rice)
• Random spices - I used about 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon each of oregano, cardamom, and really old curry powder
• and the secret ingredient...  1 can of coconut milk!

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Place rice, oil, and salt in a large glass baking dish (i used 13x9 i think? the really big one).  Mix up until all the rice is coated with oil and salt.  Add more oil or salt as desired.
3. Add in other chopped up ingredients, and mix up.  Attempt to distribute evenly.
4. Mix coconut milk, broth, and water in a bowl and carefully pour over everything in the glass dish.  Everything should be just submerged - if you need more liquid add a little more water or broth.  (I was trying to save dishes and didn't quite mix them all first, i don't think it mattered much... but if i wasn't so lazy/making-things-up-as-i-went, i would have pre-mixed)
5. Sprinkle desired spices over the top, and place in oven.
6. Bake for 60-90 minutes, until chicken and vegetables are thoroughly cooked.

The chicken was done for me after an hour, but the carrots were still a bit crunchy.  I turned off the oven and left the casserole in there while i ran to the store, and when i came back the rice had soaked up all of the liquid and the carrots were just right.  The chicken had started to dry out, but only just, and still tasted great.  I have no idea why it tasted like stuffing... maybe the mushroom broth did it?  I should point out that there was  no coconut flavor, just lots of richness somehow. (I've heard coconut flavor can depend on the brand, i used Thai Kitchen Organic). Hopefully the good results of this experiment weren't a fluke, I'll definitely be trying it again!  This would also work well with other vegetables mixed in... I'm not very adventurous these days so I'll stick to carrots and zucchini for now.

*disclaimer - I had a cold and I'm pregnant, so my taste buds might be a little wacky.  Regardless of whether or not it really tasted like stuffing, I thought it was good and husband really liked it too!

Scraps for dinner!

I like to play a game called "What's in the fridge?"  Sometimes, this game overlaps with another one, called "What's in the freezer?"  I played a mix of the two this weekend!  I didn't take any pictures, since it was super ugly, but it was also super delicious!  Here's what I used:

Fridge:
1/2 a head of cabbage
1/2 a can of tomato paste

Freezer:
Cooked ground beef, crumbled (about a cup or 1/2 pound?)
Cooked italian sausage, diced (2 links?)
Super salty leftover stir fried egg plant (1/2 cup?)

Countertop:
1 onion
2 red potatoes

Instrucciones:

1. Chop onion, place in bottom of casserole or crock pot.
2. Dice potatoes, same.
3. Chop cabbage, same.  Mix the 3 together a bit.
4. Season with oregano, mrs. dash, herbes de provence, or whatever herby stuff you might have.
5. Salt and pepper too (unless you have super salty eggplant coming, like i did)
6. Spread around sausage, ground beef and eggplant
7. Mix tomato paste with water (about 1 cup total liquid) and pour over.
8. Put on lid, and bake at 350 for an hour or two, checking to make sure concoction doesn't dry out.  If it does dry out (like mine did after more than 90 minutes, husband neglected instructions to turn off oven when timer went off), rescue with tomato-y liquid!  I used a can of tomato soup.  

It was delicious, I win!  I like this game! Would also work just fine with uncooked meats, just make sure to cook long enough for them to come to a safe temperature.  Instead of tomato-y liquid, I bet broth would work... and instead of eggplant I imagine mushrooms would work well.  Maybe I'll try those substitutions next time I play!