Baked Rice

This is a simple dish that I cook when I don't have much in my pantry and when I don't feel like spending too much time preparing dinner. It's fast, convenient and most importantly, nutritious so you don't feel that you're shortchanging yourself in any way. I highly recommend this dish to full-time working moms who don't have too much time to spend in the kitchen on weekdays! :)

Baked Rice (serves 2 greedy adults + 1 toddler)

Ingredients:

• $2 worth of chicken fillet
• 1 can of Campbell's Cream of Celery
• Mozarella cheese
• 2-3 handfuls of frozen mixed vegetables
• Rice grains
• butter

Seasoning (for the chicken):

• chicken marinade
• ground black pepper
• unsalted all-purpose herbs
• hua diao jiu

Method:

1. Marinate chicken with seasoning. You can do this the night before cooking.
2. Cook rice as you normally do in the rice cooker.
3. When the rice is cooked, mix the butter in evenly with the rice. Add a suitable amount of butter for the amount of rice you have cooked.
4. Mix in the chicken fillet and mixed vegetables till the ingredients and rice are well-mixed.
5. Scoop half the portion of the mixture into a casserole dish.
6. Spread half the can of cream of celery evenly on the surface of the mixture.
7. Place a layer of mozarella cheese on the cream of celery if you want the baked rice to be extra cheesy. Otherwise, skip this step.
8. Scoop the other half of the rice mixture into the casserole dish.
9. Again, spread the cream of celery evenly on the rice mixture.
10. Top with mozarella cheese evenly.
11. Pre-heat oven to 180degC.
12. Place the dish into the oven and bake at 180degC for 20min.
13. Serve hot!
    
    

Well, Alicia ate only some of the baked rice, and without the cheese for that matter. She's just not a "cheesy" gal, I guess. I had to top up her dinner with a mini banana muffin and her usual pan-fried cod... Oh well... I guess she needs time to accept new tastes and new food!