Fluffy Rice & Chicken Bake

Prep Time: 5 minutes  Cook Time: 60 minutes  Servings: Makes 3-4

Nutrition per serving. (Nutrition based on 4 person meal.):


Calories: 349          Sugar: 2g
Protein: 23g            Carbs: 43g
Fat: 4g                    Sodium: 519mg
Fiber: 2g

It's funny, but I had thought I put this recipe up on my blog a LONG time ago. Not sure why I haven't but it's a staple in my house, and I got it from my mother. I see many variations online, but this is the one I use and I will include the substitutions.

This is such a flexible meal I have made it with pork chops, various types of "Cream of __" soups and 3-4 pieces of meat. It all depends on what you have in your pantry or fridge and how many people you plan to serve. I don't use cream of mushroom for allergy reasons, but that is what the original recipe called for plus the addition of mushroom pieces. I don't add those either.

What you need:
3 - 4 Chicken breast halves OR boneless pork chops
1 can of Cream of Mushroom/Celery/Chicken soup
1 - 1.5 cup of milk (I use the can to measure, and depending on the amount of rice I use, I'll add more or less) You could substitute water here as well.
1 - 1.5 cups of white minute rice
1 package of Onion Soup Mix


Preparation:
Lightly grease or spray a 9 x 13 baking dish ( I use glass)
Place rice in the pan
Mix "Cream of" soup, milk, and HALF the onion soup mix packet and place half this concoction into the pan with the rice. Mix.
Place the chicken/pork on top.
Pour remaining soup over meat.
Sprinkle remaining onion soup mix over the meat.
Cover tightly with aluminum foil.
Bake at 375°F. for 60 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and no longer pink inside and the rice is tender.

Recipe Note: For creamier rice, increase the milk by 1/3 cup.

Valentine's Day Jar of Hearts ♥

So I have decided to start sharing some of the crafty projects I have been working on lately (instead of blogging). I started to get in touch with my crafty side, in part, because of my aunt and cousin, and their Christmas crafts they had me doing. Pinterest played a role in my craftiness as of late as well. Except I have little interest in re-posting other people’s projects. I intent to try and only show my own pictures of my projects. That is unless my project is such a huge FAIL that I need to reference the original source so you can see what I meant to create, OR you just need to see my inspiration. Hopefully that won’t happen much.

I began thinking, hey, I have this blog that I’ve somewhat abandoned and I actually have content to write about now, so here we are. You’re looking for a “Jar of Hearts” project, maybe even the song, and I’m rambling on.

I wanted to make a fun Valentine’s Day gift for my husband that was creative, fun and sweet. I went on to Pinterest to look for some ideas and saw lots of cute little fabric/felt hearts, mostly made into garlands (as that is all the rage right now). I saw someone mention the idea of leaving little hearts in their loved one’s lunches and then it hit me. I could hand sew my own little hearts and fill a jar with them.

Pinspiration: Comfort Me Hearts

Even more back story: A few years ago, Brian and I would hide a little stuffed Sully (Monsters Inc.) toy, in random places for each other to find. Boots, coat pockets, socks, pillow case, silverware drawer, ALL very good places. But somewhere along the lines, Sully disappeared for good. Possibly sent out to the trash unknowingly with a load of old worn out socks. ☹

Valentine’s Day was the perfect opportunity for me to create that fun little surprise game again, only with hand sewn hearts.

So here is what I used, and you may want to use something else entirely:
•    Pinking shears
•    Sturdy utility scissors (these will cut card board or card stock)
•    Cardboard or card stock
•    4 – 6 different patterns of pink and/or red fabric (you’ll use less than a quarter yard)
•    Matching thread
•    Sewing needles
•    Cotton or Poly Stuffing, rice, beans, or anything you might want to put inside the hearts (scents maybe?)
•    Jar
•    Small funnel (I made mine out of paper)

I cut my heart patterns out of the card stock from an old cereal box, free hand. My hearts were about 5 inches wide and maybe 3 inches tall. I tried to give myself about a quarter inch extra for sewing seams. Just cut a few different shapes and sizes out until you have a few you want to use. It’s totally fine if you have to fold the cardboard to cut them, because I just folded the fabric inside the templates to cut them out.

Funny enough, I have fancy cutting tools and fancy cutting boards, but little desire to use them. One thing I would recommend that I did not do, was iron the fabric before cutting it. Those fat quarters I bought had fold lines that I mostly worked around with, but if you wanted to do it the right way…

Needless to say, I’m not going to fault you for skipping steps. I liked the sloppy, handmade feel my little hearts had.

I cut out multiple shapes and sizes of hearts. Some I sewed inside out and stuffed with cotton batting, (all I had on hand) and some I stuffed with rice. I stuffed the larger hearts with rice, as I know they would make nice hand warmers when popped in the microwave for a few seconds. You could add scents to your hearts, like lavender, cloves, or any scented oil. More scent ideas here.

I also made some neat little message holder hearts. These I have not seen anywhere else… yet. I love the idea of having a little hidden pocket to write little notes to my husband. Since my fabric was just thin cotton, I went ahead and cut four layers at one time. I loved the rough edge the pinking shears gave the hearts so I just went with it.

I’m not going into too much detail on how to sew the pieces together, or fill the hearts with stuffing. If you need that level of direction, there are TONS of tutorials for beginners out there.

I put about eight or nine hearts in my little glass Ball jar and finished her off with a rough-cut piece of fabric tied around it. I’ve hidden two hearts already… he’s either not that good at finding them or I am fantastic at finding hiding places… I prefer the latter. ♥