Maggie Monday: Healing on a Plate

Once again it is time for Maggie, author of the Pony Mama blog, to show us a wonderful dish. Maggie’s love of horses made me think of instructions I received one of the dozen times I went horseback riding. I was told to not trot or run the horse during the last half of the trip. I wondered why but neglected to ask. The trip was a little over an hour with thirty minutes out and thirty minutes back on a similar route. One rider neglected to follow directions and after giving her horse an extra kick, the beast took off like a bat out of hell. One of the guides had to put his horse into a full gallop to catch her. Apparently the horse knew it was heading back to the barn and only needed a little encouragement to make that trip as quick as possible. Here’s Maggie…

If you need a great one-dish dinner, give this one a try. I’ve been making it for years. I got the original recipe from an old Pillsbury cookbook that I’ve had for about 30 years. I’ve only made a couple of changes, as the recipe is just really good.

I often make this when I need to provide a meal for someone else- new mom, family in need, etc. A couple of weeks ago my good friend broke her hip after falling from a horse. I hate hearing about anyone being injured in a fall, and felt particularly bad about this one as I had convinced her to start riding. And she is about the nicest person in the world, so nothing bad should happen to her! Guilt! Just the way I was raised!

I got home from work at 5, and delivered this to her by 7:30 pm. And she lives 30 minutes from me. The photo is literally the dish I took her. That is why it is in a foil tin and not a pretty baking dish. Sorry about the lack of presentation but same yummy result.

This meal comes together quickly, and is just good eats. After my friend had some she texted me that it was “healing on a plate”. That made me feel good. And she is right. It is truly a comforting meal. The rice is so creamy and yummy, and the celery, onions and mushrooms are so good together. I hope you try it!

Chicken and Rice Bake

 What you need:

1 ¼  cup uncooked long grain rice

1 small onion, chopped

½ tsp salt

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 cups warm water

10 ¾ oz can cream of mushroom soup

½ cup button mushrooms, sliced

2 ½ -3 lb whole chicken, cut up (don’t use back, neck or giblets- just the meaty pieces)

2 Tbs butter, melted

½ tsp salt

½ tsp paprika

½ tsp poultry seasoning

What you do:

Preheat oven to 375. Spray a 13×9” baking dish with non-stick spray. Directly in baking pan combine rice, onion, ½ tsp salt, celery, water, soup, and mushrooms. Mix well. Arrange chicken skin side up on the rice mixture. Drizzle chicken with melted butter. Sprinkle chicken pieces evenly with salt, paprika and poultry seasoning. Bake for one hour or until juices run clear and chicken is tender. Serve.