Hello from the Eclectic blog-o-sphere!

If you’ve been following our blogs, then you’ve probably gathered that we love vintage cook books. Well, one of our most favoritest cook books in our cook book collection is The I Hate to Cook Book by Peg Bracken (1960). It’s just so cleverly delightful and, most especially, full of relatively quick yet uber delicious and flavorful recipes. Mrs. Bracken was ahead of her time and she wrote with such effervescent charm that her book is not only a favorite cook book amongst those of us here at Eclecticity, but it’s also a favorite book book; it reads that well! It seems that we are not the only ones enamored of Mrs. Bracken’s work…many people in the last 50 years have enjoyed using/reading her cook book (including Meryl Streep!), and so it has been published again as a 50th Anniversary edition!  Woot woot! To celebrate, here’s a timeless recipe from our copy of the original…enjoy!

You will need:

2 1/2 lbs of fryer chicken (or 2 packages of frozen breasts or thighs, thawed)

3/4 cup uncooked rice

3 ounce can of mushrooms

1/2 stick butter

1 tablespoon grated onion (or half a garlic clove, minced)

2 chicken bouillon cubes dissolved in 1 3/4 cups water

salt, pepper

Flour and then brown the chicken in a little oil. While it browns, out the rice, salt, and pepper in a greases casserole dish and stew the grated onion (or garlic) about. Put in the mushrooms (juice and all). Arrange the chicken artfully on top, pour the bouillon over it, and dot with butter. Cover it. Bake it at 350 degrees for an hour. Makes 5-6 servings.