Earthy Chicken and Rice Casserole

I am having one of those days where I gave it my best mommy shot, but didn’t get the particular results I wanted. First things first, lets go over today’s timeline…just so you can know what I'm working with.


4am – Wake up to Indigo crying in her room.
412am – Bring Indigo to your room, snuggle, beg her to go back to sleep.
414am – Indigo says “Mommy, I have to pee.” Take her to pee
416am – Put the wiggle worm back in her bed. *She actually goes back to sleep* score!









418am – 718am – Suffer what can only be described as cramps from the devil monster horrific cramp inflicter all women should suffer man.

719am – Indigo is now awake
719am-1020am – This is sort of a blur, I do know that I managed to roast some beets.

1022am-1055am – Leave to go to a sing and dance play time at a learning center...sit in traffic since they reduced the freeway down to 1 lane. WHY???? Am I the only one who seems to find road construction around every corner and even on a Saturday morning for goodness sake? I sure hope not.









11am-1145am – Make a drum with Indigo at the Learning Center, watch her play games, think to myself this is a good last day if I am raptured tonight at 6pm – oh yeah and we got ice cream..and Chick-Fil-A, so sue me.


So after all this momma work I put in I thought FOR SURE nap time would be easy.


1205pm – Read a story, shut the door.
1215pm – Toddler party begins in her room. I stop my workout tape and angrily fly up the stairs. Politely talk to toddler in a stern voice, tell her to lie down and take a nap.

1225pm – Shut off work out tape again, run furiously up the stairs and launch a few stuffed animals over the railing.  (Total nerve release, you should try it).









1235 – repeat
1245 – repeat with more angry face then time before and also even once beg in a very nice mommy voice (revers psychology and all).

1255 – Call husband and say there is NO WAY you’re ready for another at the moment thank you.
105pm – eat








INGREDIENTS
Delightfull borrowed from Simply Recipes

• 2 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1 to 1 1/2 inch pieces, patted dry
• Salt and pepper
• Olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 IL button mushrooms, sliced
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1 1/3 cups chicken stock
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup cream
• 1 cup long grain, white rice
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon each of Italian seasoning and poultry seasoning
• 2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley & chives








DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375°F. Heat 2 Tbsp of olive oil in a large sauté pan on medium high or high heat (hot enough to brown but not burn). Sprinkle a dash of salt on the bottom of the pan. Season the chicken pieces all over with salt and pepper. Working in batches, brown the chicken pieces on two sides, about 1-2 minutes per batch. Add a little more salt to the pan (and more olive oil if needed) after every batch. This will help prevent the chicken from sticking to the pan. Remove chicken pieces and set aside in a bowl. Chicken does not have to be cooked through, only browned.









In the same sauté pan add 1 Tbsp olive oil, lower the heat to medium, add the onions, and cook until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic, cook 30 seconds more. Remove onions and garlic to a shallow (9 x 13 x 2) casserole dish.









Raise heat to medium high, add the sliced mushrooms. Dry sauté them, allowing the mushrooms to brown lightly, and release some of their moisture. Add the mushrooms to the casserole dish.









Add 1/4 cup dry white wine to the pan to deglaze the pan, scraping off the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.









 Let the white wine reduce to about 1 Tbsp, then add the chicken stock, and remove from heat. Stir in 1 1/2 teaspoon salt, the cream, and the sour cream.









Add the raw rice to the casserole dish. Then pour the stock, white wine, cream, sour cream mixture over the rice. Add the Italian and poultry seasonings to the dish. Stir the rice, onion, mushroom, herb mixture so that they are evenly distributed in the casserole dish.









Place the chicken pieces on top of the rice mixture. Cover the casserole dish tightly with aluminum foil. Bake in a 375°F oven for 45 minutes. Remove foil. If the casserole is still too liquidy, let it cook a few minutes more, uncovered, until the excess liquid has evaporated away.


Sprinkle with fresh parsley and chives before serving.  I like to dub this dish, Thanksgiving in a bowl..with chicken of course.