Especially for Jill....

Pan-fried chicken breast, lazy-mom rice pilaf, in under 40 minutes.

Saute 1/4c onion and 4-5 cloves garlic (I'm stupid heavy on the garlic, because... I love it) in 1T olive oil over medium heat.Add about so much dried parsley....
And about 1/4c chopped red pepper...
When the onions have turned translucent, add the rice, along with 1T butter, and stir all together. Salt and pepper to taste.
When the rice just barely starts to brown, add the water.
My fool-proof rice ratio: 1 c rice, 2 c water. Turn heat up to high, bring to a boil. Stir, cover, and lower heat to low. LEAVE THE LID ON THE PAN. Whatever you do.... do not uncover it. You're using that steam to cook the rice. I promise, it will be fine.

Cook on low COVERED for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove from heat, and leave lid on for an additional 5 minutes. Uncover, and voila. Lovely faux-rice pilaf. The general recipe also works for non-faux-pilaf rice as well.... 1 to 2 ratio, drizzle of olive oil and salt, bring to boil, cover and lower heat, cook on low for 20 min. Perfect rice, every time for me.

Chicken......
I had bone in, skin on chicken breast, 'cause it was on sale at my favorite store. You can use whatever seasoning you want. I trust that you know what that is :)

I used garlic salt, pepper, paprika, and onion powder. Season liberally... I try to season under the skin if I remember...

Heat 1T oil over med heat (I use veg or canola for this). When heated, add chicken skin side down.
When that side is browned, flip and lower heat to med low. Cover, and cook until cooked through.
Remove from heat and let rest.... Because these were GINORMOUS, it actually only took 1 breast to feed me, 1, & 2. Baby already ate, and The H will have the other one... or part of it. It's freaking huge.
I served with the faux-rice pilaf and steamed broccoli.

Now... the thing that always jacks up my meals is my timing... for THIS, I seasoned the chicken breast, and let it sit while I started the rice. Chopped the veg's for the rice, sauteed them, etc., and started cooking the chicken when I put the water in the rice. This ended up with perfect timing, everything done at the same time.

And nary a box in sight ;)