Easy Chicken with Rice

Recently I bought this bag of wild rice mix. It had a few types of rice, long and short grained and it had the black long skinny grains which I always thought of as wild rice. Wanting to try it for a long time, I finally got the nerve to cook some up. Originally I was going to serve the rice along side some BBQ Chicken Sammies and a salad, but decided firing up the grill wasn't worth the effort. So I diced up the chicken and just threw a couple things into the pan. It's not only colorful, but healthy and easy. The hardest part was waiting the incredibly long time it takes to cook wild rice!

What You Need:

2 tsp oil
1 chicken breast, diced
1 c wild rice blend
2 c water
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, diced
1/2 red bell pepper diced
1/2 c frozen peas
1 tsp thyme
salt and pepper
Parmesan Cheese (optional)

What To Do:

In a sauce pan, combine the water and rice over high heat. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer covered, for 45 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat a skillet over high heat, add the oil and the chicken in a single layer. Season with salt and pepper. Don't touch the chicken until it's nicely browned, once that happens add in the onion and garlic and give a stir. Stir occasionally until the chicken is fully cooked through and the onion is soft. Turn off the heat and add in the red bell pepper and the thyme.
Once the rice is cooked, stir in the chicken and veggie mixture, along with the frozen peas. Cover again and let cook about 5 minutes or until the peas are done and everything is hot. Serve in bowls with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.