From eggs to chicken so I've progressed
An ease to cook, a wonderment
This one pot meal to you I'll address
Consumed by all with astonishment

Note: First time for every thing, would you believe an ode to a Recipe? And I know what you're thinking -- she's got to get a life, right? Seriously (yeah, sure after that excuse for poetry) this is my desperation recipe made up in my hour of need. Translate that to, I didn't have a clue what to make for dinner. This recipe is versatile as a right-after-work- last minute oven meal or a crock-pot throw together in the AM dinner surprise.

(Bare with me, no accurate measurements on this one, no you don't have to get bare.)

• 2 whole chicken breast / 4 halves; add ½ of ck. breast for each additional serving or big eater (I like the boneless skinless kind 'cause it looks less like a living thing and I hate chicken skin!)
• 3 cans – 10 oz. size of your favorite brand of soup –
• 2 cans cream of mushroom (of course)
• 1 can cream of chicken (yeah, you can use the low fat version or the bigger size cans, just add a can of soup if you exceed the chicken by more than one whole breast)
• 1 scant soup can of milk (always wanted to use the word scant, now you figure out how much is scant!)
• 1 can of mushrooms 4 oz size (you can use raw fresh ones or delete if you choose but remember they're reputed to be an aphrodisiac)
• 1 teaspoon of minced garlic or if you must 1 clove of fresh garlic, you already know what to do with it if you use fresh, you don't need me to tell you (I have the kind in a jar that sits in the fridge awaiting my commands, the only thing that does in my house)
• 1 teaspoon of sweet basil I usually just shake the dried basil over the mixture so I'm guessing at this teaspoon bit, you can adjust to your own taste or substitute the spice of your choice (we're talking dried here, I'm not spoiling the dh with fresh, otherwise he'll expect fresh all the time)
• a little more than a pinch or less than ½ teaspoon of salt or to taste and a couple of healthy shakes of pepper or you gourmets out there can do the ground pepper corns (my grinders never work and I have 3 of the stinkers plus I never remember to buy pepper corns)
• 2 dried bay leaves (my mom always threw these in everything so it's kind of a habit)
• Add anything else that you think you'd like with chicken (hey personalize here, I give you my permission -- as if you needed it!)
• 1 cup of rice cooked according to product instructions (I don't joke about rice or mine might turn on me!)

Good idea to start the rice first if you're doing the hurry-up-version. Preheat oven to 400 degrees if not using crock-pot, with the crock-pot – fire that sucker up to high immediately. I only do this in the oven when really desperate and in a hurry. To speed the cooking along I cut the chicken breast into strips or chunks and bake for between 45 to 60 minutes. Have less time, crank that oven up to 450, check chicken after 30 minutes if pinkish nuke it for 5 to 10 minutes on high only if you remembered to use nuker proof pot (in all that soup the chicken wouldn't dare to dry out but it won't be as tender as the crocker version. This is verified by dh as quoted "this doesn't taste the same" to which I respond, "hum, must have been old chicken" hey it works!) Oh, for the crocker version you can just throw those breasts in even if they're frozen (a favorite method of mine called NO DEFROST) not so with the oven version.

This is the easy part! Except for the chicken combine, mixing well, all the stuff above and whatever else you elect to use in either a crock-pot or a 4 quart covered casserole or dutch oven.

The hard part: to cut up or not to cut up the chicken, that is the question (forgive me William). The answer depends on the cooking time, if in a crock pot - heck no, its got all day while your either surfing the net, reading JAK, writing a review or working (sorry); if in the oven better cut it up, we're after speed here!

Oops, forgot to mention with the crocker, when I'm ready to leave the house I turn the crocker down to medium, if I'm home I wait till the sauce bubbles gently then turn it down to medium (this takes awhile if breasts are frozen, not to worry still comes out all right). I like this version in the summer because my crocker isn't alpha and doesn't feel he need to dominate my feminine air conditioner. (This from a woman experiencing her first hot flashes – the AC rules supreme in this house!)

Now for the rice, just serve this concoction over it with bread or rolls (from the bakery of course or you can do those Pillsbury ones if the oven is your weapon of choice) and a salad. I, of course am the woman who buys that already pre-washed, torn up salad fixings in the sealed bags. Hey the way I turn a head of lettuce to rust the extra cost is worth it -- salad on demand!

Hope you enjoyed! :-) & a > < ))) "> for C.

Rebecca