Crock Pot Chicken and Brown Rice

I know I should eat more brown rice. I am just not used to it. And I'm not great at making it. I've done one beautiful pilaf with it once, and haven't been able to replicate it since. I figured this would be a good first step for me, so I tried it out. Basically, it's a crock pot version of the casserole I made all the time right after we got married. The biggest difference for me than the original crock pot recipe was that I didn't make my own "cream-of" substitute, I used the stuff in a can. I'm working on a recipe I can make in bulk and freeze that will be better than the stuff in a can, but hey, we're taking baby steps here!

So basically, this is my version

1 1/2 cups brown rice (I think this is about 1 regular bag, but mine was in a cannister)

2 cans chicken stock

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 Tbsp dried onion

2 - 3 chicken breasts (I used 2 but they were pretty gigantic)

paprika, salt, and pepper

Mix it all together and cook on low for 8 hours

I started with 1 can of chicken stock, but after about 5 hours the rice still wasn't done and it was getting dried up, so another was added. I don't know if this is because I used a larger than necessary pot (6 quart) or if my rice simply soaked it all up. Either way, use two! I did end up adding a little bit of water in the last hour because some of the rice on top didn't get quite mixed in as well as it should have (or it dried out) but you could have just kind of scooped that off the top and everything else was perfect.

Verdict: Not bad at all. This will definitely be making a regular appearance at our dinners during my residency, although Jeff requested white rice from now on. The only change I would make next time would be to maybe add a little bit of garlic powder and perhaps some chili powder or even a little cayenne because it didn't have a ton of flavor on its own. I could also see trying it with pork. You could easily mix in a bag of your favorite vegetables, but since I don't have a favorite vegetable, they didn't make an appearance in my dish.

Give it a try, and let me know what you think (especially if you have any favorite spice combinations!)