Hello and thank you for checking in with me today seeing what's cooking on the You're Gonna Need A Gym Membership Tuesday. Today's recipe isn't sweet, sticky, ooey gooey goodness or chocolate based shockingly enough but is a supper favorite of my families and has been for many years.   
I know your time is valuable and I wanted to share an EASY and QUICK recipe that is also INEXPENSIVE.
Times are tough and your dollars and time are stretched beyond the breaking point, I get that. I’ve been there in the trenches with you.
Being a solitary parent for 18 years with two boys who LOVED to eat was not an easy road. I worked up to three jobs at a time to make sure they had what they needed in life and bland food wasn’t an option.
Inexpensive doesn’t mean tasteless and this recipe is going to prove that. I have changed it up over the years based on living a better life than before but the concept is still the same.

This is the basic recipe but If you'd like my Thrivalist twist on it leave me a message and I would be more than happy to share it with you. honestly. out of this world goodness either way. 
This recipe will serve 4 with possible leftovers to freeze depending on how hungry your monkeys are.  
Ingredients:
8 chicken thighs or 4 chicken breasts or mixture of the both
1 – 284 ml mushroom soup
284 ml milk
1 + ½ cups shredded cheddar cheese (reserve ½ cup to be used for topping)
1 tsp each salt and pepper
1 tbsp oil
Topping:
2 cups of bread crumbs or crushed crackers
Reserved ½ cup of reserved shredded cheese
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Dice up the chicken into small bite sized pieces and season with the salt and pepper.
*The choice is always yours which is what I Love about cooking and creating recipes. If you don’t want chicken use beef, tofu, or broccoli, the sauce is so good that it doesn’t need any of those. For today however were using chicken.*
In a large frying pan heat on high heat and add 1 tbsp of oil of your choice. I prefer coconut oil but have used olive oil and vegetable as well. A small pad of margarine or butter works well too. Once the pan is hot put your seasoned, diced chicken in an even layer across the bottom. Let it brown up for 3-5 minutes. Reduce to medium high heat. Give it a quick stir and let it cook for another 3-5 minutes. Make sure that you scrape off all of the toffee brown bits on the bottom. Turn the heat off and add the can of mushroom soup to the cooked chicken. Fill the can with milk and add that too along with the cup of cheese.
Mix this around and place into a rectangular oven proof baking dish and sprinkle on the bread or cracker crumbs. Sprinkle with cheese and bake for 20-25 minutes until bubbly and golden.
While the casserole is baking you can make your rice, pasta or potato to accompany it. I’ve even eaten this over a slice of toast and it was pretty damn tasty.
  
­­2 cups jasmine rice
3 cups water
1 tbsp butter or margarine
Pinch salt and pepper

Rice can seem intimidating to a new cook but most find it’s really is so easy to make and once you try it you’ll be hooked.  If you’re not comfortable or have only 5 minutes to spare, MINUTE RICE will work just fine.
The ratio I use is  1 cup of rice to 1 ½ cups of liquid.however this allows for left overs. 
I only use butter and seasoning if I’m not using chicken stock. this adds flavor to every layer of your dish. Place all ingredients into a medium sized pot and give it a quick stir to break up any lumps. Bring to a boil, cover; turn the burner down to simmer. Let simmer for 10 minutes with the lid ON...NO peeking! Let that steam build up and burst the rice.
Here’s the important part.
Take the rice off the burner after 10 minutes and let it sit and STEAM for another 5 minutes.
​Fluff with a fork and enjoy alone or with the droolicious casserole above. 
PS. My husband is NOT a "fungi" when he finds out that I've put mushrooms into his food because and detests them but this is one of his favorite dishes. 
From The Thrivalists Kitchen to yours. 
Let me know how much your family loves this recipe, I look forward to hearing from you!

Thank you for clicking on the link and taking a peek into my world. I wrote this blog a year ago after I published the first edition of my memoir HerStory-Victim to Victorious. A LOT has changed since this blog but I still LOVE this poem and know that you deserve to read it if you haven’t already.  
Thankfully I am not feeling as unmotivated this year as I was last and foraging forward has paid off, as it always does. I am grateful that I am able to Thrive instead of simply Survive!
I’m currently in the FINAL stage of editing for the second edition which I’ve titled Survivalist to Thrivalist which will be available soon. STAY TUNED!
Receive Inspirational messages and keep up to date on the release of my memoir
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Hello and welcome to my blog “Victorem Viventem” and today’s installment of “Monday Poetry Edition” The poem that I chose to share with you today I feel was one that was necessary for me to read today because it holds a message that as a woman…I sometimes I need to remind myself of. I haven’t really been blogging very much because quite frankly I have not really felt up to it the last couple of days or so…I have been finding myself in quite the funk putting me in a position where I am doubting my direction in life and feeling quite defeated by my own  procrastination. This is quite a foreign dilemma for me because I am usually the one that is encouraging others to “Follow your dreams” and confirming that “ANYTHING is possible” yet lately I feel like I need to affirm those things with my own self. I have been contemplating a HUGE switch up in my career and at 47 years old it seems quite daunting and unrealistic but then I remind myself that I never thought I could do many things in life and I have done those things…like surviving a past jam packed with multiple mental traumas…writing a book about it and living a victorious life in the wake of those traumas. With that being said I shall move onward and upward and in the direction of my destiny because I am a Phenomenal Woman and capable of anything. I hope that this poem lifts YOU as much as it lifts me every time that I read it. #HerStoryVictimToVictorious #VictoremViventem #VictoriousLiving #MondayPoetryEdition #PhenomenalWoman #MayaAngelo #ProudBlessedAndThankful
Phenomenal Woman – Maya Angelo
Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
that’s me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It's the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say,
It's in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman

Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
that’s me.

Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed.
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
that’s me.