A quick chicken recipe for tonight’s dinner

You can’t beat chicken for a quick and easy weeknight dinner. Especially when you combine it with a quick side dish of turn it into a casserole. Following is one of my favorite chicken casserole recipes.

Chicken ‘N Rice Casserole

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 medium cooking onion, diced

2 celery ribs, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 cups, pre-cooked rice (ideally leftover from earlier in the week)

Cooking spray

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into thin strips

1 large can crushed tomatoes

1 cup shredded Swiss cheese

In a large non-stick frying pan, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, celery, and garlic. Stir occasionally, until vegetables are tender crisp approx. 5 minutes. Stir in cooked rice. Transfer vegetable-rice mixture to a dish and set aside.

Lightly coat the same frying pan with cooking spray. Add chicken breast strips, and cook until browned on all sides, stirring occasionally. This should take less than 10 minutes. Transfer chicken pieces to a medium sized casserole dish. Cover the chicken with the vegetable rice mixture. Spoon tomatoes over all and top with shredded cheese. Preheat oven to 350F. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and continue to bake for 10 minutes more until the casserole is bubbly and the top is lightly browned. Serves six.