Taking liberties

Garden Chicken Sauté
Pillsbury: The Best of Classic Cookbooks Copyright 1998

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 whole chicken breast, cut into 1-inch cubes I used 2
2 garlic cloves, minced I was lazy and used a sprinkle of garlic powder
2 cups water I used 2 1/2 cups water, about 1/2 cup teriyaki sauce
2 (3-oz) packages chicken-flavor ramen noodle soup mix I used 3
2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning I omitted this
1 cup baby carrots, cut lengthwise
2 cups sliced zucchini

Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat and add chicken and garlic; cook and stir 4 to 5 minutes or until browned.

Stir in 2 cups water, seasoning packets from soup mixes, Italian seasoning and carrots. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and cook 6-7 minutes or until carrots are crisp-tender. I added the zucchini with the carrots - probably should have waited.

Gently break each block of noodles in half; add noodles and zucchini to skillet. Bring to a boil and boil uncovered, 5 to 6 minutes or until zucchini is tender and noodles are cooked. Stir occasionally to make sure noodles absorb liquid, separating them as they soften.
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I planned to make this recipe as written and I'm sure it would have been very good that way. However, I messed up and made the garlic breadsticks I was supposed to make with this earlier in the week and I couldn't think of anything to serve with this. I thought egg rolls but even though it had ramen noodles, this wasn't very 'Asian'. I decided I would make it Asian. I just left out the Italian seasoning and used teriyaki sauce in place of some of the water. I also added another chicken breast and another packet of noodles, along with another cup of liquid (I only added two seasoning packets and I probably could have only used one.)

This was a nice simple, not very expensive meal. It calls for very little chicken (I did add more). I offered my son SpaghettiOs since this only had two chicken breasts and sometimes he will only end up eating the chicken in something like this. When I went to put away the small bit of leftovers, he asked for them and he ate the chicken and most of the noodles. Then he asked me to make it again tomorrow!

I will make it again (not right away but at some point in the future). I might vary the vegetables. I can think of lots of other vegetables that would work here - mushrooms, broccoli, green onion, celery, baby corn.

Question of the Day: Do you like ramen noodles?