One day last week Jay and David started talking about learning to cook some of their favorite meals. So we decided to turn supper time into Cooking School.
Chicken was on sale so it was a good time to learn how to make Grilled Chicken and California Chicken.
On Sunday night we marinated several pieces of chicken in Zesty Italian Dressing and grilled them over charcoal. We renamed this old favorite District 12 Chicken in honor of the coal district portrayed in the recent movie uptown.
For a side the boys made our version of Weasy's Rice. I call it Weasy's rice because years ago I got the recipe from Jane who got it from Weasy. I'm sure the recipe has changed over time and actually we make it with several variations. On Sunday night, the boys mixed 1 cup of rice with 2 cans of Chicken and Wild Rice Soup. For extra flavor, they sauteed a little celery and onion in butter and mixed that in too. Then they baked it for about about 30 minutes at 350 degrees.
While the rice was baking, the grilling session of Cooking School began. David was in charge of the grilling and you know they learned from the master. They grilled the chicken and then grilled buttered toast which turned out great. District 12 Chicken, Weasy's Rice and Grilled Toast is a winner.
Monday night we had more chicken. One of the boys first Cooking School requests was California Chicken - based on Mrs. Smith's recipe in the first Charity League cookbook. This recipe is a go-to stand by for us because it is so good and so easy.
It's really quick to put together and then it goes in the oven for 1 1/2 hours. Quick and Easy couldn't have been a better choice for Monday Night Cooking School because we had the unexpected pleasure of a visit from Mary Katherine.
The boys assembled California Chicken and put it in the oven. Mary Katherine and I played and rocked on the front porch. What could possibly be more fun?
California Chicken
Grease a 9 x 13 pyrex dish with butter
Layer One envelope of Dry Onion Soup Mix
Layer uncooked rice (regular, not minute rice)
*The recipe calls for 1 cup rice but we use about 1 1/2 cups and add a little extra water halfway through the baking if it looks dry
Layer Chicken - we like to use boneless breasts and thighs but you can use with bones. The amount of chicken depends on the size of the pieces. We put as much chicken as we can fit into the dish. You can cut the boneless breasts in half.
Mix together 1 can Cream of Mushroom soup with a can of water and pour over chicken
Dot with butter and sprinkle a little black pepper
Bake at 325 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. Check about halfway through and if the rice looks dry you can add a little more water.
On Monday night, we had California Chicken with a salad and cold, juicy watermelon. It was delicious, easy to put together and gave us lots of time to play with MK!
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