Sunday Special - Italian Chicken on Rice

OK - it is Sunday and I am watching the USA - Canada hockey match. Canada is ahead 2-1. Beginning of the third period . . . GO USA!!!

Ran this morning with Sophie - 4 miles - it was a relatively warm, 28 and no wind. I really think that 3-4 miles is Sophie's maximum. I am not just saying this to make myself feel better . . . but she is slowing me down. The last mile - she is behind me and I need to pull on her lease to get her to speed up a bit. Problem is when I am running - she is trotting. If she runs . . . I would not be able to keep up. ;-) Last summer I would take her out for 2 miles (because of the heat) and then drop her off at home and then run the rest of my miles. I will probably need to do that again.

After our run - then it was off to church.

I have been thinking about something to make my blog unique . . . so on Sunday's I am going to share some of my "GO TO" recipes. These will not win culinary awards - but these are recipes that I turned to whenever I didn't really have a lot of time and everyone in the family enjoyed these. And many of these are basic ingredients that I would keep on hand.

Before we had children, I loved to cook and spent a lot of time on weekends trying new recipes and making bread (kneading by hand - not with a bread maker). We were married for almost 12 years before we had children. But once the boys were born I just didn't want to devote too too much time to cooking . . . especially since it took them the same amount of time to eat the food, whether I spent 2 hours making the dinner . . . or 15 minutes. ;-)

So here is one of my favorite recipes:

Italian Chicken on Rice

2 whole chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 pounds - skinned, boned and cut in thin strips or chucks - I usually slice the breast in 1/2 inch wide strips and then cut those slices in 2 to 3 inch long strips.) I almost always use frozen chicken breasts - you don't need to thaw them. Simply slice them while frozen.

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

3 tablespoons butter

One 15 1/2 ounce jar spaghetti sauce

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning - or use some Basil and Oregano

3 cups sliced celery

4 cups cooked rice

Season chicken with garlic salt and pepper and leave sit for 5 minutes. Saute in butter until cooked through. Stir in spaghetti sauce and Italian seasoning: cover and simmer 10 minutes. Add celery, continue cooking until celery is tender crisp (about 10 minutes). Make rice while the chicken is simmering. Serve over Rice. Sprinkle with Parmesan or Roman cheese.

ENJOY

Peace