Easy Chicken and Rice

Recently, my husband has started working more evenings than days, which leaves me and the baby on our own for dinner more often. I am trying not to fall into the sandwich trap even though it is so much easier to just eat a salad and sandwich for dinner. That is ok sometimes, but not day after day. A few nights ago I decided to throw something quick and healthy together with food I already had in my cupboards. It was a simple rice and chicken dish and the bonus was I could feed it to my little munchkin too!

I started some brown rice to cook in the rice cooker. I have a serious problem with burning rice. I have tried and failed to solve this problem so I have become completely dependent on my rice cooker. Anyway, before I take this rabbit trail too far…
While the rice was cooking, I took two chicken breasts out of the freezer and placed them in a pot of boiling water. I added chopped onion, carrot and celery and seasoned with some coarse salt. I also added barley which went really nicely with everything else. When everything was almost done, I added corn, peas, and green beans from my freezer. Once those were cooked, I drained the water, added the rice and shredded the chicken with two forks. That’s it! How easy does that sound?

I put some aside and whizzed it through the food processor with a bit of water for the baby. Once that was done, I added some butter, salt and pepper to mine and we had ourselves a lovely dinner. It was so simple and totally delicious.

There is something to be said for a very simple dinner. These days, I’m leaning more toward simplicity when it comes to cooking. It can be fun to fuss over a dish and make something really nice but lately I’ve been finding that the meals that seem the most plain have been tasting the best. Less time cooking and cleaning up equals more time playing with my baby and her daddy. Can’t argue with that!