The mighty left over

In the column prior, about the dominance of Trader Joe's supplied homemade pizza, the left over ingredients were quite hefty. A good amount of mushrooms and sliced red onions were left.

And, as mentioned prior, a meal was quilted together to blanket the taste buds of any starving student, both in pocket and in mouth.

The dinner time meal was comprised of grilled, seasoned chicken breasts, rice and sauteed veggies, as well as the quite uncommon, but none the less delicious vegetable, swiss chard.

For college students, this may sound completely unreasonable and out of the price range and or skill, but the only difference between this and a lean cuisine is the dishes and a few extra minutes.

The chicken used was Foster Farms bag of frozen chicken breasts. The bag is about two and a half pounds and costs about $10.00. For the amount of chicken that is given, it is a pretty good deal.

The swiss chard you can get at pretty much every grocery store that carries a moderate amount of produce. For those who don't know what swiss chard is, the best way to describe it is an almost sweeter version of spinach. It's a leaf that looks a lot like romaine lettuce, big in size and green. But swiss chard seems to be more billowy with the way the leaf sprouts up and out from the main stem. It is usually tucked away in a corner, and might require some assistance in finding, but for the most part, it is usually labeled on the twisty tie that holds the leaves together.

It usually isn't to expensive and comes in a bundle about half the size of it's leafy look a like- romaine lettuce.

The only other ingredient is rice, which is a pretty common thing in a kitchen. If not, it should be and it's a pretty cheap item. Even if it's not used for a year, it is still good.


So, to put it all together, you'll need two pots and a sauce pan. Use a medium size pot to cook the rice. Boil two cups of water and pour the rice in. Leave it uncovered and turn it down a bit. Cook this for about seven to eight minutes.

In order to steam the swiss chard, there is a device cleverly named... a steamer.
They are moderately cheap and can be bought at places like Target or Safeway.


Fill the second pot with just a bit of water. Wash and cut the stems off of the swiss chard. Cover the pot and let the water boil underneath the steamer until the leaves are soft. It will cook down quite a bit.

For the veggies, the fun begins. Put about two spoonfuls of olive oil in the frying pan - just enough to cover it. Let it heat up, you can usually tell by when it starts to smell a bit, or the oil is steaming. Drop the veggies in and stir them every now and then until they are all soft and cooked. I kept the sliced mushrooms and red onions in a plastic bag in the fridge.I usually add some seasoned salt, but I add that to everything. It's a staple in all my meals.

Last, but definitely the best, is the chicken. I used a George Foreman grill which is amazing for any and all quick meals. It cooks the chicken breast - frozen - in more or less, depending on size, five minutes.

To serve it, put the veggies over the rice and add the chicken and swiss chard on the plate. I'd recommend adding some salt to the swiss chard.

Overall, the meal probably costs about $4.00 once everything is divided up and averaged out.