One Pot Chicken and Rice

1 1/2 cups raw rice
1 cup water
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/4 cup melted oleo (margarine or butter)
1/4 cup water
2 Tbsp. dry onion soup mix
8 - 10 pieces of chicken
1/2 cup slivered almonds (optional)

Preheat oven to 275 degrees.  Lightly grease a shallow 3 qt. baking dish.  Sprinkle rice and 1 cup of water over the bottom.  Combine soups, oleo, 1/4 cup water and dry soup mix.  Pour half soup mixture on top of rice.  Place chicken in one layer, skin side up on top of rice.  Pour remaining soup mixture over chicken.  Sprinkle with almonds.  Cover and bake 2 1/2 hrs.  To brown chicken, uncover last 20 minutes and bake at 400 degrees.  Yield: 6 - 8 servings.

Martha:  This recipe came from a cookbook with no name.  It's a spiral paperback that is very poorly put together and there is a hand written date of Jan. 1983 on the top of the 1st page.  It may be in poor condition but the recipes inside aren't.  I made very little change in making this dish.  I used a 9 x 13 x 2 baking dish sprayed with non-stick spray and instead of white rice I used a wild rice blend that I find at Harris Teeter and love dearly.  I also used 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts which I cut down the center creating 6 pieces.  And of course I used butter instead of the oleo (not sure you can even find that anymore).  I must say that this dish is one of the best I've had, especially the rice combined with the soup.  I could make this and completely leave out the chicken!  It's that good.  Or you could cook the chicken, chunk it up and just mix it in with the soups creating a casserole.  No matter how you make this, I really feel that you'll love it as much as I do.  The rice blend has a nutty taste and the almonds give it a slight crunch.  Sooooo good!

Chicken Steak & Gravy

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 pkg. dry onion soup mix
1/2 cup flour for dredge
1 tsp. dried onions
1/2 cup milk
Olive oil

Heat olive oil on med. heat.  In a shallow bowl mix flour and dried onions.  Pour milk into another shallow bowl.  Slice chicken through the thickness creating 2 thin 'steaks.'  Dip chicken in milk and then into flour/onions.  Fry slowly, browning on both sides, until done.  Remove from pan and keep warm.  If needed, pour off any olive oil left in pan after chicken has cooked.  Add dried onion soup mix and mushroom soup.  Stir until blended to make a gravy.  If it becomes too thick, add enough milk to create the thickness you want. If it's too thin, mix a Tbsp. of flour with 1/4 cup water and add to gravy.  Serve over chicken. Serves 3-4

Martha:  While looking through one of the vintage cookbooks my beautiful sister Lillian sent to me.  I ran across a recipe for Cubed Steak which, of course, used cubed steak.  I'm not much of a beef eater anymore but the recipe did sound good as well as simple.  So, I decided to Think With My Taste Buds and decided this would be good using chicken too.  And it is!  The flavor of the gravy was so good that I could have eaten it by the spoonfuls.  I did use my rice flour for battering the chicken but I can't call this one gluten free because the mushroom soup does have wheat flour as an ingredient.  This is a must try dish for chicken or beef or even beef.

Rice Flour Fried Chicken

6 Thin Sliced Chicken Breasts (1/2 - 3/4" thick)
1/2 cup Rice Flour
1/4 cup French Fried Onions, crushed
1 Tbsp. McCormick Roasted Garlic Montreal Chicken Seasoning
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 cup milk
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 small can mushrooms, drained
1 cup Mozzarella & Provolone Blend Shredded Cheese


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a shallow bowl combine flour, crushed onions, seasoning and pepper.  Pour milk into a 2nd shallow bowl.  Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium high heat.  Dip chicken in milk, then into flour mixture.  Place chicken in hot oil.  Cook on one side until slightly browned, turn and cook other side.  Place browned chicken in a 9 x 13 x 2 baking dish sprayed with non-stick spray.  Bake in oven until completely done.  Evenly top with mushrooms.  Evenly sprinkle cheese over mushrooms.  Bake another 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Martha:  I kind of started making this dish up as I went alone.  I'm still trying to go gluten free so I bought the rice flour and decided to give it a try for making fried chicken.  While looking in the pantry I noticed I had about 1/4 cup of French Fried Onions that needed to be used so I added them to the rice flour.  I took a good 'smell' of the McCormick Roasted Garlic seasoning and knew it would be a great addition.  The mushrooms sounded good too and of course the cheese blend.  I served this with slaw and a delicious wild rice making my meal complete.  Now, as much as I would like to I couldn't eat all 6 slices so I shared with some of my food testers.  They all had the same comment... "This is the best chicken I've ever eaten!"  And it is.  This dish was a total Think With Your Taste Buds dish.

The rice flour... I totally recommend it for frying.  It makes a beautiful, crisp crust.  Try it, I bet you'll like it too.  Now I want to find other uses for this newest find.

Think With Your Taste Buds Chicken Pasta

This dish idea came to me while trying to cook everything in my kitchen that wasn't gluten free.  I had 1/2 box of the bow tie pasta in my pantry that I thought I would put together with some leftover chicken that I had cooked the night before.  But what do I add to it to make it a little different yet special?  I decided to 'clean out my refrigerator' in search of ingredients that would work.  Here is what I combined.

Bow Tie pasta, cooked of course
Chicken, cut into chunks
Sliced Black Olives
Chopped Green Onion
Chopped Dill Pickle
Pimientos
Chopped Celery
Almond Slivers
Sliced Green Olives
Cucumber Ranch Dressing
Mayonnaise

There are no measurements for this dish.  Just add all the ingredients together and taste.  The Cucumber Ranch Dressing was a perfect touch but don't add too much due to its flavor.  And the addition of the mayonnaise was just enough to help everything mix together.  This is one dish that I made using my motto "Think With Your Taste Buds."

No I didn't eat this dish.  I did taste just a 'little' as I was making for taste blends but my lucky food testers all raved about how good this was.  They all agreed that you could taste each of the ingredients as well as a blend of the ingredients taste.

Smothered Chicken with Spinach and Mushrooms

3 cups fresh baby spinach
1 3/4 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
3 green onions, sliced
2 Tbsp. chopped pecans
1 1/2 tsp. olive oil
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1/2 tsp. rotisserie chicken seasoning
2 slices reduced-fat provolone cheese, halved

In a large skillet, saute the spinach, mushrooms, onions and pecans in oil until mushrooms are tender. Set aside and keep warm.  Sprinkle chicken with seasoning. Using long-handled tongs, moisten a paper towel with cooking oil and lightly coat the grill rack. Grill chicken, covered, over medium heat or broil 4 in. from the heat for 4-5 minutes on each side or until a meat thermometer reads 170°.  Top with cheese. Cover and grill 2-3 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. To serve, top each chicken breast with reserved spinach mixture. Yield: 4 servings.

Martha:  I did make a few technique changes to this that I feel didn't change the flavor.  The main thing was that I didn't grill my chicken, I baked it in a 400 degree oven on a rack until done.  I also rubbed it with a little olive oil and added a chicken rub to all sides.  The spinach calls for 3 cups of fresh.  That is what I bought but I think I would have liked just a little more.  My spinach, mushrooms, onions and pecans were sauted in a large frying pan with lid.  I topped this with my chicken and instead of adding 1/2 slice of provolone I added 1 slice to each piece, placed the lid on the pan and let the cheese melt allowing it to run down into the veggies.  This dish is worth making and it actually requires very little work giving you a gourmet looking dish.  Where did I find this recipe?  On Pinterest via Taste of Home.  Give this one a try.  You won't regret it.

Chicken Scaloppine

2 large, boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2" strips
1 pkg. McCormick Gourmet Garlic & White Wine Chicken Scaloppine
1/4 cup flour
3-4 Tbsp. olive oil
1 can sliced mushrooms, undrained
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup orzo pasta

In a gallon plastic bag mix flour and 2 Tbsp. of the McCormick Gourmet mix.  Place chicken strips in bag and shake coating chicken completely.  Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over med. high heat.  Add the chicken to the pan in batches allowing each to cook about 3 minutes on each side or until brown but don't allow the chicken pieces to touch while cooking.  Remove from pan and add next batch until all chicken is browned.  Into the pan stir in mushrooms with liquid, remaining seasoning mix, chicken broth and orzo.  Bring to a boil.  Lower heat to simmer.  Place chicken over orzo.  Cover and cook 10 minutes or until the orzo is done and the liquid has been absorbed.  Serves 6

Martha:  I found this package of McCormick Gourmet Garlic & White Wine Chicken Scaloppine on sale and decided to give it a try.  Sure glad I did.  This is one of the best chicken dishes I've had in a long time.  The flavors are perfectly blended and absorb into the chicken and orzo giving both a wonderful taste.  The original recipe called for 1 1/2 cups of water or chicken stock and 1/2 cup of white wine.  I increased the broth and eliminated the wine.  My food testers that were given this to try have all raved about how good this turned out.  And it's so simple to make.

Complete Chicken Dinner

1 pkg (10 oz.) frozen broccoli, chopped
4 med. potatoes
2 large chicken breasts, cooked
1 cup mayonnaise
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup grated cheese
1/4 cup Panko

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cook broccoli until tender.  Drain well and place in the bottom of a 3 qt. baking dish sprayed with non-stick spray.  Peel and slice potatoes.  Cook until tender, drain, place on top of broccoli.  Break chicken up into bite size pieces and place on top of potatoes.  In a large bowl combine both soups and mayonnaise.  Pour over chicken.  Sprinkle with cheese.  Bake 20-25 minutes or until bubbly and cheese has melted.  Sprinkle with Panko and cook an additional 5 minutes or until Panko starts to lightly brown.  Serves 4-6 depending upon how hungry you are.

Martha:  I have a neighbor who had a stroke so I decided to make a dish for she and her sister to eat on for a couple of days.  I found this recipe in an old cookbook and made just a couple of changes.  The original didn't call for the potatoes which I added to really make this a complete meal.  It called for curry powder and lemon juice which I left out and it called for 2 cans of cream of chicken.  I made the change to use 1 chicken and 1 mushroom.  My chicken I actually sprinkled with salt, pepper and crushed rosemary and let it refrigerate overnight baking it in the oven the next day.  This added another flavor that fit very well.  That combined with the mayonnaise mixed with the soups add yet another touch to the flavor.    The dish came out simply delicious!  It's simple to make and is perfect to take to a shut-in, take to a pot luck or serve at your own home.