Salsa Chicken and me

Ya know I was looking in my pantry last night and thought...ya know "ol' Lady" you REALLY have to get to the store. I call myself "ol' Lady" because I have a nickname for everyone. Not that these names are very flattering but sometimes they just fit their personalities. More on that later... :)

I paced back and forth between the refrigerator and the pantry, back and forth, back and forth... nada..nothing! AH-HA! I thought, it's out for dinner for me! But then that old spend thrift me came creeping in, "you know that costs so much more money, and its a long way to town" and, and, and, and...

I search in the freezer, oh, I have a few chicken boobs.. I have some salsa...OH! there is a bit of shredded Monterey Jack cheese, ok..back to the pantry! Yep...I see it I have a small bag of white rice.

Of course I am lazy so I grab the rice and opened the jar of salsa...dumped it into a bowl added the rice raw, added some water to thin it out to a soupy mess but it sure smelled good.

Thinking about what kind of texture I wanted...I like my chicken DONE, DONE, DONE, yeah not very juicy...juicy chicken bleh...I found my 13X9 pan and sprayed with some vegetable spray.I think an 8X8 pan would make for a better product.

I dumped in the salsa, water, rice, mixture, then placed the chicken boobs ever so neatly in a line. OK, so it didn't look really pretty, at least not yet! I went to the spice cupboard...searching for a way to make this look pretty...I found parsley flakes, seasoned salt, cumin, and chili powder. I pondered a bit...then decided to sprinkle on parsley flakes and a bit of cumin and chili powder. AH-HA! Now that looks much better.

I started thinking that I should cover the pan with foil to keep in the steam so the rice would cook, so I went searching for foil...I found wax paper (where did THAT come from!), I found plastic wrap, I found parchment paper...and way in the back...I found foil! YEA!!!!!!!

I covered the pan and placed it in the oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, checked on it and it was done..WOO HOO! DINNER! OH NO...... the Monterey Jack cheese...I forgot it! I NEED cheese on everything so I again pondered, what should I do? I decided to take the cheese and uncover the pan and use the heat from the cooked "dinner" to melt the cheese. I have to say, it worked just wonderfully, but the sight of just melted Monterey Jack cheese kinda didn't look quite as good as I had hoped.

AGAIN, I pondered....AH-HA my torch....almost at a dead run in my "step-saver" kitchen, I found the kitchen torch that has only been used twice to brown a crust on Creme Brulee, I lit the torch fine tuning the flame to blue. I passed the flame over the cheese quickly making the cheese golden brown and bubbly. YUM! I am sure this could be done under a broiler.

The chicken was cooked perfectly...surprisingly the rice was done and the flavor was really GREAT! This dish is just easy-peasey, and very few ingredients. You could add some corn, peas, or a mixture of canned or frozen veggies if you don't want to hassle with a salad. Personally, I love salad so we had a pre-made salad with dressing of choice.

Dinner was wonderful, and actually I learned that even if you think you have nothing in the pantry...necessity if the mother of invention!

I messed up.... no photo..oops and sorry! NEXT TIME! But here is the recipe as I did it.

4- Chicken Boneless Skinless Breasts (boobs)
1- 16 oz. Jar Salsa (brand of your choice)
3/4 c. raw long grain white rice (cheap or expensive)
2/3 c. water (tap, bottled, or filtered)
1 c. cheese (real cheese, not cheese food)
1/2 t. chili powder (your choice)
1/2 t. cumin (your choice)
1 t. dried Parsley Flakes (your choice, fresh could be good too)
8X8 baking pan, unless you like "dry" chicken :)
Vegetable Spray or other lubricant (name brand not required)

Mix salsa and water together, add rice and mix well, set aside.
Spray your pan with vegetable spray. Pour rice, water, salsa mixture into prepared pan.
Lay chicken boobs on top of the mixture.
Mix spices together or just sprinkle willy-nilly over the top of the chicken boobs.
Cover tightly with foil and bake 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
Uncover foil and add cheese. Let sit a few minutes to melt.
If browning is important for you, place under the broiler or use a kitchen torch to brown.
Let set about 5-10 minutes and serve with salad if desired.

If you make this let me know your variations, and how you liked it!