CHICKEN PAELLA

I am into vegetables in a meal that do not require extra work or extra cooking. It is so much easier and way less time consuming. And to top it all off it is healthier.

I found this recipe in my Real Simple magazine recently and thought I had to immediately book mark it.

I am always so interested in the recipes I find in my magazines but they never actually make it into my kitchen. They get lost or forgotten about and never made! But this was a recipe I just had to try.

Another cool thing I have been doing lately (thanks to persuasion from AU) is making meals that have more than 2 servings. I was doing this thing where literally every week night I was cooking, cleaning up, washing the counters, and literally falling onto the couch with exhaustion afterwards. AU came up with this great idea that we try and make meals that have more than 2 servings and I hopped on board. This meal is great for 2 nights in a row and it fits perfectly with all my new themes of of cooking.

The rice in the original recipe is supposed to be short grain. You know most of my meals are what I’m working with at the time. I used our basmati rice instead of short grain and it cooked really well in the chicken broth. It was completely cooked and soft even though it is more long grain than short.

I didn’t have fresh or freeze dried chives to top this meal with but I was okay without them. The pickled jalapenos were definitely on point with a little hint of spiciness and the sharp vinegar flavor.

This meal is AU approved AND it has veggies. The red peppers and onion cook to be completely soft and you can’t even taste them with the rice. I thought it was fantastic and we both scarfed down our entire plate.