You know what the definition of comfort food is? THIS. First of all it’s grandma’s recipe so right away this has gained a point in the comfort section. However we then check off creamy, warm and gooey, and of course made with love.

Ingredients:

• 3 boneless/skinless chicken breasts cubed
• 1.5 cups of raw rice
• 2 cups of water
• 1 pkg of dried onion soup mix
• 1-2 cans of cream of mushroom soup
• Paprika

Instructions:

1. Grease a 9×11 inch pan
2. Lay rice on the bottom of the pan
3. Slowly pour water over the rice
4. Place chicken on top of the rice (I am one of those people who need veggies in my casseroles, so I also cut up some carrots and added them to this part as well)
5. Sprinkle the onion soup packet over the mixture and then carefully spread the cream of mushroom soup over top. Finally, sprinkle some paprika over the top.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 1.5 hours. Bake uncovered until the last 15 minutes, for those last 15 min take a sheet of foil and cover the casserole.

The fun part about this recipe for me is that now-a-days we have fancy tools like instapots in order to make “one pot”, easy to make quick meals. This takes us back in time to before the “fancy-dancy” instapot! And honestly . . . I get the instapot hype but this recipe was SO EASY!

I’ve also started developing this habit where I try and picture what grandma would be doing and what her day would be like when she cooks these recipes. This one really made me think about how much the average family’s life has changed. Raise of hands: who here has time to keep something in the over for an hour-and-a-half? I don’t even have kids and I carved out time for this recipe. And you know what happened that night? My husband and I got the chance to sit down and talk in the kitchen and really dive into how each other’s days went. It was a reconnect that we had not had in so long.

In other words I guess what I am trying to get at is . . . dinner is important. The “Quick 30 minute Meal” is great for most nights but maybe we should all take one night to carve out time for a dinner that takes more than just 30 minutes to make. Maybe it will feed us and give us some tasty and needed nutrients because we cut out the time to chop up more veggies, or . . . maybe it will feed us with company and conversation we have not had in a while.

Thoughts? I can’t wait to hear them. I’ll leave the kitchen light on for you 🙂