Quick & Healthy Sesame Chicken With Brown Rice

After a long hard day at work, a night of cooking isn't always a lot of fun. Last night I came home from work tired, but hungry and didn't feel like spending a lot of time in the kitchen. I had some chicken tenders marinating in the fridge and some veggies I had cleaned and cut up over the weekend ( a great time saver for weekdays). I had no idea what I was going to make.
So I started looking in my cabinets and found a bag of Uncle Ben's Ready Brown Rice (an absolute life saver), a can of quartered artichoke hearts, black olives, green olives and a jar of red roasted peppers. I looked in the freezer and remembered I had frozen some left over chicken broth and a jar of long forgotten sesame seeds (2 more great tips).

If you open a container of chicken broth and don't use it all, pour it into some ice cube trays, freeze them and pop them in a freezer bag for future use. Four cubes is about a 1/2 cup. Because seeds and nuts spoil easily, always keep them in the freezer, they will keep a very long time. In the fridge I found a lemon, a jar of minced garlic (which I use only in a pinch and only a brand that has no added preservatives), grated Asiago cheese and fresh parsley.

I toasted the sesame seeds on a baking sheet for about 5 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Rolled my chicken tenders marinated in a little Wish Bone Italian Dressing into the seeds. Placed them on a foil lined cookie sheet and baked for about 12 minutes on 475 degrees.

In the meantime, I heated up my broth cubes, juice from one lemon, a little extra virgin olive oil and added the artichoke hearts, olives and red roasted peppers, and brown rice. I then added about a teaspoon of fresh lemon rind from the same lemon, salt, pepper and the Asiago cheese.

Next, I got my mixed veggies (broccoli spears, green beans and sliced carrots into a microwave safe dish, added a very little water, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning. I placed them in the microwave for about 10 minutes (I like my veggies on the soft side). When they were cooked, I added a little e.v. olive oil and sat down to eat. I hope you try it and enjoy it as much as I did!