Cheesy chicken, broccoli & rice skillet meal

I had wanted to start my first real blog entry with a DIY arts and crafts project. Even though I've started this project, I unfortunately have not had time to finish it. Ahh... life.

Instead of feeling like a failure so soon, I thought about how I just made a delicious broccoli, chicken and rice skillet meal last night.

If you're like me at all, you've scoured Pinterest for deliciously easy (and cheap) meals to make for you and your family. Hours later you've pinned thousands of drool-inducing food to multiple meal plan boards (maybe this is the real reason why my art project isn't complete...).

Maybe, like me, all that pinning doesn't go to a complete waste and you even buy all the necessary ingredients.

Miraculously, you remember to take the chicken out of the freezer (even if it is at noon of the same day you plan to eat this amazing meal).

You're feeling incredibly accomplished at this point and you watch the clock impatiently for your opportunity to shine in this most blessed of domestic tasks.

The time finally arrives and you pull out your phone to get the recipe that started this incredible journey. You open Pinterest and search... and search.... and search for your pinned meal only to realize- it's not there.

"Ok... this is only a minor set back... I won't let this ruin my feeling like an accomplished adult today," you think to yourself. So, you just search for the recipe again, convinced you'll stumble upon it instantly like the first time.

Ten minutes and fifteen recipes later, you think that perhaps you dreamed the whole encounter of being productive and winning at life. I mean, really, is anything really this easy? Why am I only finding recipes that now include ingredients I wouldn't even have thought goes into a broccoli, chicken and rice meal? Curry, really?!

It's at this point that you either call it a day and order a pizza or you shine like the domestic god or goddess you set out to become. Either way, you would probably be praised by your family (pizza is always a win).

Last night, I choose to defy the recipes that now included sour cream and curry ingredients that seemingly had take over Pinterest.

I winged it. And dinner turned out to be even more of a triumph than I had planned. Take that adulting!

First, I couldn't determine from any of the recipes that I read whether I should actually cook the chicken first or just toss all the ingredients together and hope we didn't get salmonella.

I decided to take the no salmonella route and cook the chicken tenders in some water (if I had chicken broth or stock- I'm sure there's a difference but it's all the same to me- I would have used that to further the badass image of myself). After a few moments, I remembered to season the chicken. I used garlic salt (which I only usually carry after a grocery order error I apparently make when requesting garlic powder) and pepper (you can't really mess up ordering pepper... at least I haven't yet).

I also thought cooking the chicken first would be a good idea as I would have some extra time to myself, even if it was used trying to do some dishes that had been sitting out all day).

While the chicken was cooking, I also microwaved two bags of instant ready rice (thank you, Uncle Ben!). I used chicken flavor brown rice and 1/2 bag of original white. Then I microwaved a bag of broccoli florets. I seriously don't know how I survived those dark years without microwaveable veggies.

To expedite and ensure thorough cooking of the chicken, I cut up the tenders into bite sized pieces. When they passed the squinty eye test three times, I separated out some pieces for my daughter. I knew she would give me grief about having to eat rice mixed in with chicken and broccoli- let alone having to eat rice at all. I wanted to ensure nothing was gonna bring me down from this dinner mastery.

Next, I added a can of cream of chicken soup. I'm not sure why I would have bought that instead of cream of cheddar. Obviously, I was completely delusional the day I decided to pin this imaginary meal. Now, as baffled as I was with my soup choice, I really couldn't explain to myself why I had only bought one can. My husband likes saucy recipes to really be saucy (this may be why we're married). One can of condensed soup was not going to cut it. So, I improvised and poured some whole milk into the empty soup can, halfway (extra dishes be damned!). I would have added a full can of milk but we were getting on the low side and I really didn't want to have to make extra plans to pick up milk sooner than absolutely necessary.

After mixing, I added the rice and broccoli. I don't know about you but a meal isn't really complete without cheese. I added a handful (so dainty, I know) of shredded cheddar cheese, mixed (with a spoon- I'm not that bad) then added another handful of cheese to the top.

I let the food simmer and bubble a bit while I finished getting my daughter's plate ready.

Once my little one was settled and I finally got some food for myself, I thought everything looked pretty great for winging it!

While I was doing the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen (all while NOT burning the dinnner *patting my own back, thank you). I noticed that my husband had left a bag of generic goldfish on the microwave. The bag was open, revealing the crushed contents of a snack battle, and I also noticed that the bag was ripped. Obviously the only place for such an item is on top of the microwave.

I had an epiphany (as well as an excuse not to clean up the remains of my husband's snack battle). I would add some of the crushed cheddar crackers to the top of my dish! Yum!

I'd like to post a picture but I didn't know my arts and crafts blog was going to turn into a temporary food blog so I didn't take one. I will definitely add a pic the next time I make this meal though as it was awesome.

If you too would like to conquer dinner like a boss, here is my recipe instructions without the snarky commentary:

Ingredients:

1- 1 1/2 pound Chicken breast tenders

Two 8.8oz bags of microwaveable Ready rice

One 10oz. Bag Frozen microwaveable broccoli

10oz. Can cream of chicken soup

5oz. Whole milk

4oz. Shredded cheddar cheese

Instructions:

1. Cook chicken in water, or chicken broth/stock. Season with garlic salt and pepper

2. Microwace two bags of instant ready rice. I used chicken brown rice and original white

3. Microwave bag of broccoli florets

4. Once chicken is cooked through, add cream of chicken soup and milk. Mix well.

5. Add rice and broccoli. Mix well.

6. Add 1/2 shredded cheese. Mix well.

7. Top with remaining shredded cheese and crushed cheddar crackers