Chicken & Rice Primavera

We were having an issue with our freezer this past week and the repairman informed us that we had to unplug our refrigerator and allow the freezer to thaw out for 24 hours.  Gasp!  Do you have any idea how much precious food and how many valuable condiments I have in there?!  Last week was all about not getting groceries and being on a mission to use up as many of the contents of the refrigerator as I could.  We thankfully have a deep freezer, so I didn't have to worry about losing my frozen items.  Yesterday was crunch time.  What would you do with fresh spinach, grape tomatoes, heavy cream, white wine, carrots, onion, celery, cooked rice, Parmesan and mozzarella cheese?  I decided to use all of those ingredients to make a chicken and rice primavera.  Delicious!  

Ingredients:
Yields 4 servings

• 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 tbsp butter, separated 
• 1 c carrot, diced 
• 2 celery stalks, diced 
• 3/4 c onion, diced 
• 1 large clove garlic, minced 
• 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme, chopped 
• 1 sprig fresh rosemary, chopped
• 1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, cubed 
• 1 c chicken broth, reduced sodium
• 1/4 c white wine
• 1/3 c heavy cream 
• 1 c grape tomatoes, chopped
• 2 c packed fresh spinach, coarsely chopped 
• 1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese 
• 1/4 c shredded mozzarella, part skim milk cheese
• 3 c cooked rice 
• Salt, to taste
• Pepper, to taste 

Directions:

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil and 1 tbsp of the butter over medium heat.  Add the carrot, celery and onion and cook until soft, about 8 minutes.  Add the garlic, parsley, thyme and rosemary and cook for 1 minute longer.  Push the contents of the skillet to one side and add the chicken.  Season the chicken with salt and pepper.  Brown the chicken on all sides, about 2 minutes.  

Pour in the chicken broth, wine, heavy cream and remaining 2 tbsp butter.  Stir well to combine and continue to cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.  

Add the tomatoes and spinach and continue to stir until the spinach is wilted down.  Stir in the Parmesan, mozzarella cheese and the cooked rice.  Continue to cook until the rice has absorbed most of the liquid and the chicken is cooked through.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.  

Enjoy!