Remember not to peek!

Another hot one on the North Shore today, but I am turning on the oven to attempt one of Mary's main dishes. My aunt suggested that I prepare a main meal so that the world does not think that our family ate unbalanced meals. My grandmother was/is a good cook, so they definitely didn't starve, however Mary, was a much better baker than she was a cook. Actually, she was a pretty bad cook. She has some wonderful recipes for fish, chicken and meat entrees, but she was never able to execute them well. By the time I began staying at her house, we ate two things...American Chop Suey and Tuna Noodle Casserole with peas.                                                                                     

Both of these meals do not have recipe cards because they consisted of approximately 3-4 ingredients. I thought these meals were fantastic, but that was because at home we always had to eat healthy. The only time I got creamed anything was at Mary's house.

In one of my most recent conversations with my aunt and cousin they mentioned Mary's "No Peek Chicken".
Mary made this recipe quite a bit, but never seemed to get it right. She always used instant rice which either formed a giant rock hard mass on the bottom of the pan or became mush. She typically peeked at the chicken periodically as it cooked, defeating the no peek portion of the recipe, and would either under cook it or over cook it depending upon the amount of cocktails consumed during the no peek cooking process.

No Peek Chicken
(written on white recipe card with Italian embellishment)

3/4 cup rice (not instant)
4 boneless chicken breasts
1 can mushroom soup
1 envelope of onion soup
1 can chopped mushrooms
1 can (Yes can) of white wine.

Preheat oven to 350. Spread rice on the bottom of roasting pan. Place chicken on top of rice and add mushroom soup, onion soup mix, mushrooms, and white wine (use mushroom can to measure wine).
Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 2 hours ... DO NOT PEEK!

Here is the precooked chicken (along with my precooked cocktail)

 I mixed together the soup, soup mix, mushrooms and wine prior to adding them to the chicken/rice. 

It smelled great while baking and I didn't peek once! When it was finished, some of the rice was stuck to the sides (Just like Mary), so I would have cooked it for less time.

Overall, it was good, but salty. This recipes has enough sodium to make your ankles swell for a week, so don't eat it before a doctor's appointment. Next time I would use low sodium cream of mushroom or possible make my own, but this time I had to make it just like Mary did! It smelled great while baking and I didn't peek once!