Cashew! God Bless You Chicken - Rachael Ray 30-Minute Meals

This is the first recipe that we ever made from this cookbook when we got it. It has been in regular rotation as a family meal ever since. The boys really like the cashews and the rice, those get gobbled up first and then they ask for more. They do not have a hard time cleaning the rest of their plates though.

Oriental dishes are a favorite of Hubby and I we like to get Chinese food from our favorite restaurant in town and when we have the grandparents watch the boys we often go to Happy Hour at the closest sushi restaurant. This version of cashew chicken is so easy and simple, but it is so tasty too. We almost always have the ingredients on hand to make this recipe too, so if we're not feeling like a menu item on our list for the week this can be an easy filler for us.

We do make one modification every time we make this recipe and that is to leave out the water chestnuts. I have stated before that Hubby is not a fan of water chestnuts so we just leave them out. I also usually use more carrots than the recipe calls for because we like to use more veggies whenever possible to stretch the protein and to get more vegetables in all of us.

I think when we made this recipe and saw it specifically called for jasmine rice that we decided to look for it in the store. We were so glad that we did, I knew when I got rice at Chinese restaurants that it tasted different from the white rice made at home, but I wasn't sure why. I assumed they added something to the rice when it was cooked. When we cooked and tasted the jasmine rice the first time I knew that the difference was not an extra ingredient, but the type of rice itself. I am so glad that we tried it too because now we use jasmine rice every time we make a Chinese recipe.

Timing: Recipe States: 30 minutes, My Actual Timing: 29 minutes
Servings: Recipe States: 4 servings, Servings For My Family: 5 servings, with extra carrots and an extra chicken breast
Leftovers: This one is great leftover, Hubby takes it to work for lunch.


Family Ratings:
Me: This one is so easy and the flavors are wonderful.
Hubby: He is happy to see this recipe frequently. The flavors are great, just make sure to use jasmine rice.
Big Man: Big Man will take second servings of the whole meal.
Bear: Just give him lots of cashews and he's a happy boy.
Mr. T: He will take double servings of the rice and cashews.

Will I repeat: I have and will continue to repeat this one often!

What will I change: I take out the water chestnuts because of personal preference. I add some chicken and carrots to extend the recipe to feed our family better.