Manic Mondays

I've gotten off my 'usual' schedule due to the holiday and later this week we're going down to D.C.
So this week will also be a mix of postings, if I get to them. The next few weeks maybe sporadic as well because my class is ending soon and I need to start studying for my final.

But tonight's dinner is going to be a concoction. Basically, I opened the fridge (after being away for the weekend) and I am trying to salvage stuff. I have a package of mushrooms and a bunch of asparagus that both need to be used today or tomorrow at THE latest. I also have some green onions and chives. The bean sprouts I thought of using are too far gone.

So I'm cooking down the mushrooms in a non-stick pan with a tablespoon of olive oil. I'm also cooking the asparagus in another pot at the same time. I diced up about 4 stalks of the green onion. I added half to the pot cooking the asparagus and the other half to the mushrooms once they were 75% cooked down. After about 5 minutes in a pot of boiling water, the asparagus was ready to come out. I pulled out the asparagus with tongs, leaving the green onions and water.
I set the asparagus aside to cool. It will get cut up into 1/2" pieces and added to the mushrooms. In the meantime, I added 3 large chicken breasts to the boiling water, along with some salt.
(The chicken was frozen when I added it to the water.)
I decided to add rice to the meal. I didn't want to repeat my undercooked rice again, so I actually read the instructions on the bag of rice. I added 1 cup of rice to the pan of mushrooms, green onions and asparagus, hoping the veggies would give the rice a nice flavor. Then I added the recommended 2 1/4 cups of water (I ladled the water from the pot the chicken was cooking in.) I then added another 1/4 cup of chicken broth, just to be sure I had enough liquid. I also added some salt and pepper. I brought the liquid in the pan to a boil for about 30 seconds then turned down the heat to low (2), covered and let it simmer for about 50 minutes. If I didn't have time to wait for the rice to cook, I always have the boil-in-the-bag rice on hand (plus I just cant seem to cook rice.) It's not the same texture or flavor but it's quick and is never under cooked!
When the rice was nearly finished, I added 1/2 c heavy cream and about a teaspoon of rosemary to the pan to give the sauce some thickness and flavor.
I took the chicken breasts out of the water, trimmed the excess fat off and patted it dry. I then heated up a skillet and melted a tablespoon of butter. I added the chicken when the butter started to bubble. I just wanted to brown the chicken and give it a little flavor. Browning the chicken quickly will also help seal in the moisture (boiling chicken tends to dry it out a little.)
Once the chicken was browned, I added it to the mushroom and asparagus rice mixture. I stirred it up and let it sit for 5 minutes, then served.
The rice with the mushrooms and asparagus came out great! The chicken was a little bland. Next time, I think I would removed it from the water sooner and give it more time in the frying pan. Maybe with some garlic and onions or I could add it to the pan with the mushrooms and asparagus at the same time I added the rice. This way it could collect all the other flavors.