Put soup in your skillet
Cooking meals in a skillet is a quick and easy way to get dinner on the table with less mess. But sometimes it’s challenging to make these meals flavorful since they don’t benefit from the slower cooking that allows seasonings to blend. One solution is to start with condensed soup, which adds flavor in a short amount of time.
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2 tablespoons butter or margarine
3/4 cup finely chopped carrots
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into thin strips
1 10.75-ounce condensed cream of broccoli soup, undiluted
1 cup milk
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1-1/4 cups instant rice, uncooked
Additional chopped green onions for garnish, optional
Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add carrots and green onion; sauté until carrots are crisp-tender, stirring occasionally. Push vegetables to one side. Add half the chicken; cook until browned on all sides, stirring frequently. Remove browned chicken; repeat with remaining chicken. Add cooked chicken, soup, milk, and pepper to skillet; heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Stir in rice. Remove from heat; cover and let stand until most of the liquid is absorbed, about 5 minutes. Fluff with fork before serving. Garnish with green onions if desired. Makes 4 servings.
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Skillet Pork Chops with Mushroom Gravy
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
4 pork chops
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 10.75-ounce can condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1/2 cup milk
Combine bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese in a large resealable plastic bag. Add pork chops two at a time; shake to coat. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat; cook pork chops until brown on both sides. Remove pork chops from skillet; reduce heat to medium.
Blend soup and milk in the skillet, stirring to scrape up the bits of breading left over from the pork chops. Increase heat and bring to a gentle boil. When soup mixture is bubbling, return pork chops to skillet. Cover; reduce heat to low and simmer until pork chops are cooked through, about 20 minutes. Makes 4 servings.
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Pantry Pointers
Unless a recipe specifies otherwise, always have the ingredients for a skillet meal prepared before you start cooking. Like stir-frying, meals cook quickly in a skillet and there may not be time to chop or slice once the cooking process begins.
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