I randomly buy mushrooms to incorporate into dinner recipes.  I’m not a fan of the fungus, but my husband is.  I purchased a package of sliced baby bella mushrooms at the grocery the other day, with no set plan in mind on how I was going to use them.  I had half a bunch of asparagus that were on their last day of holding on to whatever life was left in them, a small yellow onion that needed to be used, along with an orange pepper (pepper was an after thought).  I figured I would cook some chicken in the crock pot, while Reagan and I went to the park and then saute the onion, mushroom and orange pepper, bake the asparagus and cook the rice when we got home.  Sounds good, right?

Something is quirky with my crock pot…Reagan and I were gone for less than an hour and when we got home, the chicken, which was cooking on low, was over cooked.  So on to another plan.  I chopped the chicken into small pieces and put together a stirfryish dish using some soy sauce.  I wasn’t convinced that the basil dressing that I cooked the chicken in would be the best match with the soy sauce, but I gave it a try anyway.  Overall a quick and easy meal…that Reagan wouldn’t touch (NOT A SURPRISE), but that Ryan and I enjoyed.

The amount of ingredients included below were enough to feed Ryan and I with no leftovers.  The pictures could have been better, but we were flying by the seat of our pants. Not everything that was incorporated in the dish  is included in the pictures.

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts

basil vinaigrette dressing

1 bell pepper

1 small yellow onion

1/3 of an 8 oz package of baby bella mushrooms

1/2 a bunch of asparagus spears

4 servings of instant rice

salt

pepper

olive oil

soy sauce

Directions:

Cover bottom of crock pot with dressing.  Add in chicken, top with dressing and cover.  Cook time depends on your crockpot.  My chicken was over cooked within an hour.

Begin to prepare your asparagus by turning your oven to 375 degrees.  Snap the ends off of the asparagus and place on a baking sheet.  Lightly cover asparagus with olive oil (roll around so completely covered) and sprinkle with salt.  The asparagus will bake in the oven for 10 minutes.  I don’t like my asparagus crispy, if you do, I would suggest additional cooking time.

Cut mushrooms lengthwise and then in half. Chop onion and thinly slice pepper.  The pepper was an afterthought, so it isn’t included until the final picture.  Heat olive oil in pan until hot.  Add in mushrooms, onion and pepper. Cook, while continuously stirring for approximately 10 minutes or until desired tenderness is reached.

At this point, I would begin the Instant Rice by following the directions on the box.

Cut chicken into bite sized pieces and add into pan.  Add 1/3 cup, or more, of soy sauce to your chicken and veggie mixture.  I just continually added more and more soy sauce until I had the desired amount. Add pepper and cook for an additional 5 minutes while occasionally stirring.

Place a large spoonful of rice on a plate and top with chicken mixture.  Serve with a side of asparagus.