Chicken Divan....in a Pan!

Maybe it's because I'm pregnant, or maybe it's because I've been making the same dinners for the past two and a half years, but I couldn't take anymore of the same old foods. The thoughts of eating some of our "old faithfuls" practically brought back the morning sickness. I've tried four new recipes in the last week and a half when, until now, I hadn't tried a single new recipe in months. Granted, some weren't anything special or glamorous (french bread pizza, my first pregnancy craving!) and one was practically a bust (homemade chicken alfredo), but tonight, attempt numero quatro, was a winner!!!! Makes me wanna yell, "Winner, winner, chicken dinner"! Or not....but you see how excited I am about finding a new recipe that is more than just a "Oh, that was ok for one night, but I don't think I'll ever bother to make that again" meal and is actually something that I could put into a regular rotation?! Alex and I each had two servings and there's still enough leftover to take for lunch tomorrow and freeze for another dinner. It all started when a friend let me borrow this book:


Rotisserie Chickens to the Rescue by Carla Fitzgerald Williams

I looked through it and found a few recipes that I thought Alex and I would both like and got all the ingredients at the grocery store this weekend. Tonight, I made Chicken Divan, which is essentially chicken, rice and broccoli casserole, but this recipe changed it up a bit by cooking it all in a pan on the stove top.


I didn't use a rotisserie chicken, but cooked some chicken breast that I already had on hand while the rice and veggies were cooking. That's one thing I liked about the book - you don't have to use an expensive rotisserie chicken for all the recipes if you don't want to. In this case, it wouldn't have saved me any time making dinner if I had actually used the rotisserie chicken instead of cooking it myself. (Other recipes would definitely be more labor intensive if you cooked your own chicken.) Later in the week I'm going to try mac n cheese with chicken and broccoli. Usually chicken and I have a love/hate relationship, but seeing how it's less expensive than steak and I currently have an abundance of it in my freezer, I'm trying to find new ways to cook it that don't gag me. Literally.

If you're in a cooking rut, pull out those recipe books that are lonely, just sitting there in your cabinet, or ask a friend to borrow one of theirs and have at it! And if you have any good recipes that use ground beef, let me know! Besides making taco salad, chili and hamburgers, I have no idea what to do with the stuff and I have three pounds of it in the freezer!