Hawaiian Chicken and Rice

I am probably the world’s worst procrastinator. It’s always been a pitfall of mine. Whether it was waiting until the last minute to do a school project in college, or almost forgetting to get my parents signature on something, there was always one thing I’ve (and everyone around me) has been able to count on: I will wait until the last minute to do things.

Enter: my wedding planning skills. I’ll go on spurts of getting things done, and then go weeks without planning a single thing. “Oh, I’ll do it next weekend,” I’ll say…over and over and over again.

What can I say? At this point it’ll be a miracle if my wedding goes off without a hitch.

And I wouldn’t want it any other way. That’s just who I am, through and through. If you’ve got it, flaunt it, right? Right.

Speaking of procrastination, I waited until the absolute last minute to meal prep this weekend. I made all three meals on Sunday, cooking right up until the time I had to go to bed.

To be fair, my parents were in town, so we spent Friday and Saturday together. Rob and I took them to our favorite breakfast spot in Norman, The Diner (real original name, huh?) where I devoured my favorite: the brisket hash. Brisket chunks mixed together with potatoes and sweet potatoes, with two sunnyside up eggs on top…woo wee, is it good!

After that, we took them to the Sam Noble museum where we got the royal treatment from a professor/paleontologist who showed us their labs and where all the real bones were stored. I touched things that were millions of years old! How cool is that??

Our fun day culminated in a nice dinner at home and a rousing game of Scrabble, where I am currently the champion. The next day I meal prepped the crap out of some delicious meals, starting with this super easy, dump-and-bake chicken and rice dish.

I feel like chicken and rice is one of those ultimate homey dinners. It was always a go-to meal for my mom to make when I was a kid, and I offered no complaints. I love that cream of mushroom soup rice and salty chicken.

This chicken and rice has a Hawaiian or Polynesian spin on it…you mix the rice with soy sauce, brown sugar, pineapple and red bell pepper. Top it with some bacon and sliced scallions, and you’ve got an incredible meal!

I love that this meal requires very little prep work. Other than cutting the chicken into cubes and dicing the bell pepper, all you’ve got to do is throw everything into an 8″ square dish, give it a good stir, and bake. Voila! Dinner is served.

Step-By-Step Instructions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together soy sauce, brown sugar, and chicken broth. Add pineapple, red bell pepper, garlic, rice and chicken and stir.

Pour mixture into a greased 8″ square baking dish. Cover tightly with foil. Bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and stir.

Sprinkle bacon over the top of the dish. Bake for another 15-20 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and rice is no longer hard. Let cool for 10 minutes.

Sprinkle dish with green onions and serve.