A late night at the office last night led me to decide on this easy peasy Lemon Cream Chicken and Champagne Risotto recipe from Everyday with Rachel Ray. With two of Trader Joe’s flash-frozen, chicken broth glazed chicken breasts in the freezer (and some left over green beans in the fridge) I omitted asparagus from my shopping list and headed to Albertson’s for arborio rice—then promptly changed my mind upon being unable to find arborio rice. (Yes, this is a problem I frequently have—not being able to find stuff, and finding myself too shy to ask anyone for help.) Instead I subbed whole wheat cous-cous (from Trader Joe’s; already had this.)

My tab at Albertson’s for two cans of chicken broth, four splits of champagne and a bottle of their $2.99 wine came to around $11. (Photo above—not quite what I ended up with, but you get the idea—by Tina Rupp for rachelraymag.com)

My recipe? Same as above, sorta:

2 cups chix broth

2 cups whole wheat cous cous

1 yellow onion

2 cloves garlic

1 split champagne

few pinches thyme

Dice the onion and chop the garlic and throw ‘em in a pan with some olive oil. Make ‘em yummy. At the same time, heat two cups chix broth in another pot. When boiling, add the cous cous and the champagne and the (now cooked) onion and garlic and thyme. Mix it all together, keeping the concoction boiling for just a few seconds (as opposed to turning the heat off when the cous cous is added, which is what you’d normally do.) Then, once the cous cous has absorbed the extra liquid (from the bubbly) give it another good mix, shut the heat off and cover ’till plating.

Oh, and the lemon-paprika-cream sauce? Rad.

Tags: CHICKEN TASTES GOOD, FIXER-SUPPER, Food, rachel ray, recipes