A Recipe and a Recap!

Hey Y’all!

Last week I found myself with a few days in between classes. I went to the beach and just generally took it easy! I was pretty pleased with my results from Summer 1..

Yes, that is an A!! This past Monday I started two more classes. One is a class on creating multimedia objects for online instruction and the other is a continuation from the class above. Whew. These classes are shorter, so we only have 4 weeks of class. But. The work is the same as a 16 week class. Have Mercy!

I took today off and went grocery shopping. Y’all. The state of my kitchen was sad. I really haven’t been eating too much. I am having a problem with my gums (thanks Crohns) and I have to head to the dentist tomorrow. I kept thinking that things would get better, but they haven’t. I don’t think this is a tooth. I am in a lot of pain and my back gums are very swollen and tender. At times the pain goes all the way down my neck. I wear a night guard at night, but I think my teeth grinding and Crohns have a lot to do with this. I have had to have gum surgeries before, so I am hoping this will be a quick and inexpensive fix! We shall see what the good dentist says tomorrow!

Anyhoo. I cleaned out my cabinets and freezer today. I try and do this at least every 6 months. When I was finished, my kitchen was bare. It wasn’t packed to begin with, but WOW. I had to make a BIG trip to the grocery store. From flour, to sugar, spices and meat, I had to make a haul. This is the time of year where I also do a lot of cooking and fill up my freezer. When school starts back, I am pretty busy from August until the end of October. That doesn’t leave a lot of time for cooking. It is nice to come home at the end of the day and have a nice, hot, yummy meal!

This summer I have discovered a great new blog that I like to read. The Southern Plate is the brainchild of Christy Jordan. She is so down to earth and she has great recipes on her site. She even had some of her recipes appear in a magazine this month…

 I found this at my local bookstore. You must go buy it!  It is worth every penny. While perusing Christy’s site last week I came across a recipe for Chicken and Wild Rice. You cook the chicken in the crockpot and just before you eat, you fix the wild rice on the stove. This recipe is a keeper y’all!

To make Chicken and Wild Rice you will need:

Four chicken breasts (Kroger had a special this week.. buy one get one free! Boy did I!)

1 can of Cream of Mushroom soup

1 box of Uncle Ben’s Wild Rice

An onion (I know. I don’t like onions either. But I promise, these cook way down and you don’t even know they are there! )

I took my chicken breasts and sliced them in to long lengths. With my chewing issues these days, I didn’t want to have to worry about trying to chew a mouthful. So I sliced them and placed them in my crockpot. I am sure you could leave the breasts whole and they would be just fine. I then covered the chicken with a chopped Vidalia onion. After that,  I spread the Cream of Mushroom soup over the onion and chicken. I set my crockpot on low and let it cook for 7 hours. Your house will smell divine!

About 30 minutes before I was ready to eat, I cooked the rice according to the instructions. Now. I have never been a fan of cooking rice, but somehow this summer I have become “The Rice Whisperer.” Oh. Yes. I. Have.  And, it is REAL rice too, not Minute Rice or Success in Rice either!

When the rice is done (meaning ALL of the water has been absorbed) place it on a dish and spoon the chicken goodness over it. You may want to add a little salt, especially if you used the sodium free soup.

Now enjoy this simple yet very fulfilling meal! It tasted great to me and I didn’t have to worry about it hurting my mouth. Tomorrow I am going to try Christy’s recipe for Chicken and Dumplings in the crockpot. YUM! I’ve got a freezer to fill!

Tootles!

JKP