10/14/12 - Chicken & Rice Casserole

Today was another super busy day for me, but in a different way. My mission today was to get our house back in tip-top shape. My plan was to send the family away, out of my hair, and tackle the disaster. After the girls woke us up, I took a few minutes to relax and wake up, and then got to work. I started getting all of the dirty clothes together to wash…I gathered my clothes, the girls’ clothes and all of the bedding in the living room, hoping Christian would take the hint and gather his clothes as well (since, you know, the entire house is his dirty hamper). He FINALLY got the hint, went into the room and got everything together…really, just in a pile on the bed. To me, that doesn't mean “wash me”, so…his stuff didn't get washed. It stayed right there, on the bed. Tonight, before bed (when I had him put the few things that did get washed away) he said to me “Oh, all of this needed to get washed too. Are you done?”. Yup, in fact, I am. Too bad, so sad. They never learn.

While I was gathering everything up, and picking up the bedrooms, Christian got the girls dressed, packed them a bag and was off to his parents’ house. I wanted him to STAY there with the girls….I knew if he was home, he would either just sit around and do nothing, while I ran around like crazy all day (which would drive me nuts), or actually help me, but I didn't want him to help because I wanted to clean by myself, MY way. It was a double-edged sword, so I just wanted him to stay with the girls (which, he knew). Of course, he didn't do that. He dropped them off, and claimed the girls didn't want him to stay there. Really, he just knew I didn't want his help, and it was his opportunity to “relax” all day. So, of course, that didn't sit well with me. Men!

Nonetheless, I just went about my business. I finished cleaning the bedrooms, did some cleaning in the bathroom. Picked up the living room (one major disaster zone) and got to work on the kitchen. The kitchen actually wasn't too bad… I've been good about keeping up on the dishes (I just had some bigger, non-dishwasher-appropriate dishes to wash) and keeping the counters clean and cleared since I've been on my fresh cooking kick. I just had to do a little picking up, drawer organizing and sweep the floors. Not horrible. I swept the entry way and organized the closet then, then it was time to tackle the toddler-tornado zone…the basement. We've been so busy the last few weeks, I've totally let the basement go. The princess area was in shambles, I had clothes, coats and spare bedding all over the living area and the toy room was completely torn apart (thankfully, the downstairs bathroom doesn't get used too much, so that didn't need cleaning – and the laundry room, “under the stairs” storage and spare bedroom are NOT on my cleaning radar right now). It took me forever, but I got everything back in order. If I can do a little picking up in the laundry room this week, I should be able to get the coffee table and media storage out to finally finish up the downstairs “remodel”…but we’ll see.

Amidst the cleaning, I managed to finish and put away the laundry, remake the beds and made tonight’s meal. I pretty much felt like a rockstar by the end of the day! Christian picked up the girls around 5:30. Olivia didn't take a nap, so she was pretty tired and crabby. They watched a show while I finished making dinner, and were off to bed shortly after we ate.

I finally settled in to watch a couple of shows and relax for a while before bed. Feeling very accomplished, that’s for sure! The only issue is that I didn't make it to the grocery store (of course), so I’ll probably have to leave work early tomorrow (of course) to do that. But, all in all, it was a successful day!

Tonight’s meal was a Chicken and Rice casserole.

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups, Uncooked Rice
• ½ Cup of Water
• 14.5 ozs of Chicken Broth
• 2 10¾ oz Cans of Reduced-Fat Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup
• 2 Cups of Fat Free Milk
• 1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
• ½ tsp Salt
• 4 Cups Cubed, Cooked Chicken Breasts
• 2 Cups Chopped Celery (I only used a little over a cup, 3 stalks)
• ¾ Cups Sliced Almonds

Side:

• Pillsbury Crescent Rolls (baked according to the package)

Directions:

1.      Mix the rice, water and broth in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce and simmer for 15-18 minutes – until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender.

2.      While that is cooking, mix the soup, milk, Worcestershire sauce, salt, chicken, celery and ½ cup of the Almonds in a large mixing bowl. Adding in the rice once cooked.

3.      Add the entire mixture into a greased, 9x13 pan. Cover with foil, and bake at 350° for 45 minutes.

4.      Remove the cover, add the remaining almond slices, and cook for another 5-10 minutes, until heated through.

Note: When I as preparing this, I completely missed the “COOKED” part of the chicken ingredient, and just put the chicken in, cut in small pieces, raw. I was really nervous about it, and not sure if I should serve it, but I tasted it and it was perfectly fine and cooked through. I think because the pieces were small enough, it cooked fine during the baking process (vs. a whole chicken breast or something, which probably would not have cooked through). I’d say you could do it either way. If cooked, I would probably shred it (I’m always a bigger fan of shredded vs. chunks).