recipe

So, I spent a whole morning choosing recipes, creating a menu and shopping lists for the next 5 weeks. I figured that would be one thing that would make having a new baby easier. I bought all the long-term stuff and have grocery lists for each week with the perishables. That way if someone else needs to shop for me it's all ready to go.

One of my friends asked if I share. Well, unless you had the same cookbooks it would be kind of difficult to do. I'm not going to type every recipe. But, one of the first ones I tried turned out so well, I thought I'd share it. The recipe made plenty for our family of 4 and half of that recipe has already been stored in the freezer for a second meal later.

Wild Rice Mushroom Chicken

2 pkgs. (6 oz. each) long grain and wild rice mix

8 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

5 Tbsp. butter or margarine, divided

1 large sweet red pepper, chopped

2 jars (4 1/2 oz. each) sliced mushrooms, drained

Prepare rice according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook chicken in 3 Tbsp. butter for 10 minutes on each side or until browned and juices run clear. Remove chicken and keep warm.

Add remaining butter to pan drippings; saute red pepper until tender. Stir in mushrooms; heat through. Add to rice. Serve 4 chicken breasts with half of the rice mixture. Place remaining chicken in a greased 11x7x2-in. baking dish; top with remaining rice mixture. Cool. Cover and freeze for up to 3 months.

To use frozen dish: Thaw in the refrigerator. Cover and bake at 350* for 35-40 minutes or until heated through.

Yield: 2 casseroles (4 servings each).

This recipe came from my "Taste of Home's Quick Cooking Annual Recipes - 2002" cookbook. A few years ago my sister-in-law was showing me some recipes from one of these cookbooks and I got excited. I went to ebay and bought 5 of them, 2002-2005. The sad thing was that the first 3 ended up having recipes ripped out of them. Still, I was able to come up with 5 weeks worth of recipes from this one cookbook. We've found a lot of new favorites and also some we don't like. This recipe was definitely a 9-10 on our scale!