Hello my friends! Life is pretty cool in Indiana, well actually it’s pretty cold to be honest but it is pretty with the sun, snow and ice.  Here’s what my backyard looks like right now.

Snowy but pretty, right? Anyway, when it’s cold and snowy outside I long for warm, comfortingly delicious but healthy food. My girls texted that they wanted to make dinner together in Jac’s apartment, and did I have any ideas for a good recipe for them? Did I ever! Danzy’s been a bit under the weather since going back to school, so I wanted to give them something that was healing and soothing too. A top priority though was something easy to make for them. I think we succeeded, so come and join me for another episode of “Cooking with Jac and Dan!”

Baked Chicken and Rice

• 5-6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (evoo)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 carrots, chopped
• 2 stalks of celery, chopped
• 1/2 of a large container of organic low sodium chicken broth
• 2 cups brown rice
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

First, make 2 cups of organic brown rice according to package instructions.

Preheat oven  to 375 degrees. Chop onion, carrots, and celery.

Add the evoo to a large frying pan and add the carrots, celery, and onions. Saute until softened. Then, salt and pepper each side of the chicken thighs and add them to the pan.

Brown for 5 minutes on each side. Add minced garlic and the remainder of the salt and pepper.

Add the rice to the pan and chicken broth. Stir until combined.

Pour that all into a baking dish and bake for approximately 45 minutes, or until the broth is absorbed. Enjoy with a salad of mixed greens lightly tossed in a vinaigrette.

That’s all there is to it! The chicken is loaded with protein, has 30% RDA for niacin, 15% of phosphorus, vitamin B6, and Zinc, and 10% of riboflavin. It’s high in healthy monounsaturated fats, and has 6% of your RDA for iron. The chicken and broth are known to have medicinal properties to help fight colds and infections, and the carrots, celery and onion have tons of vitamins as well. The brown rice is a great source of fiber, and protein, along with magnesium, phosphorus, thiamine, vitamin B6, niacin, iron and zinc.

If my college students can make this, I know you can too! It’s delicious, warm, comforting, and healthy. This dish has it all! Jac and Dan’s opinion was that it was easy to make, but they didn’t like how long the rice took to cook (45 minutes!). My suggestion for that is to make a double batch every time you’re making rice and put the extra in the fridge. It will keep for a week so when you need to make dishes that contain rice, it’s ready and waiting for you! They thought it was delicious which is the most important part! Eating food like this will help you live a life of vitalty- with Jac, Danz, and Valerie! 🙂