Recipe #4: More rice!!! (with chick & veggies)

We eat a lot of brown rice in this house, so be prepared to buy in bulk. It's fresh veggie season here in L-town and my parent's gardens are abundant with tasty goodness, year after year. I started my rice cooking around 4:30 and at 5:00ish opened up the fridge to see what might join: grilled chicken breasts, eggplant (from the garden), peppers (from the garden), onions. Perfect! I highly recommend grilling extras when you've got it fired up - nothing makes cooking simpler than eliminating the handling of raw meat! Speaking of meat... while it doesn't typically fall on the "Dirty Dozen" lists to buy organic, it is one that we buy hormone/antibiotic free, and when we can organic and local as well. If you've seen 'Fast Food Nation' (among several others), you probably do the same. Okay, here's the recipe:

Recipe #4: Sauteed Fresh Veggies with Brown Rice

Cooked brown rice

Olive oil

Eggplant, onion, peppers

Salt

Pepper

Salsa

Cooked chicken slices

Shredded cheese

Avocado

Fresh cilantro or Italian parsley

• Cook brown rice ahead of time
• Thinly slice eggplant; saute first, allowing eggplant to turn golden and even crisp a bit (so yum!)
• Add thinly sliced peppers and onions to eggplant; allow all to saute until tender
• Add sliced chicken
• Season with salt, pepper, and salsa
• Cover bottom of oven-safe dish (8x8 inch square) with rice
• Add veggies/chicken
• Top with shredded cheese
• Place under broiler until cheese melts - Now, I could get away with simply broiling this because my timing worked out that the rice was just finishing and hot, veggies/chick were hot, etc... so I did not need to heat, just melt.
• Top with avocado slices, cilantro/parsley, and salsa

Are these the faces of children who had a skimpy dinner??? I think not!

They feasted like champions!!!!