I published the blog post.
Not all of them — just one. The deployment cooking piece. The twelve hundred words about being twenty and pregnant and alone in a base housing apartment cooking from Mom's recipe cards. I sat at the kitchen table Tuesday night, Caleb asleep, Ryan watching TV, and I pressed 'Publish' and then immediately wanted to un-press it.
You can't un-press publish. The internet is forever. My words are out there now, floating in the digital ether, available to anyone with a browser and an opinion.
I didn't tell anyone at first. I just... let it sit. Checked the stats compulsively (seven views in the first hour — all probably me refreshing the page). Went to bed. Woke up. Checked again.
Seventy-three views overnight. SEVENTY-THREE. I don't have seventy-three friends. I don't know seventy-three people. Seventy-three strangers read my words about deployment and cooking and Mom's recipe cards.
By Thursday: four hundred views. Comments started appearing. 'This is exactly my life.' 'I cried reading this.' 'My husband is deployed right now and I needed this tonight.' 'What's the casserole recipe?'
I shared it on Instagram. On the military spouse Facebook groups. On every platform I could find. And the number climbed: 800. 1,200. 2,000.
Two thousand people read what I wrote. Two THOUSAND.
I called Mom. 'I published a blog post.'
'About what?'
'About deployment. About your recipes. About cooking alone in base housing.'
'People read it?'
'Two thousand people, Mom.'
Silence. Then, her voice small and wondering: 'Two thousand people read about my casserole?'
'Two thousand people read about what your casserole MEANS.'
More silence. Then: 'Well. I hope you got the recipe right.'
DONNA. Two thousand readers and she's worried about recipe accuracy. I love her. I love her so much.
I made her chicken and rice casserole tonight. The Pyrex time machine. The recipe that started it all. And I ate it knowing that two thousand people now know its name.
The blog is live. The words are out. The casserole is warm.
I'm a writer. A real one. With readers and everything.
Professor Kim: I didn't stop.
Two thousand people read my words, and more than a few of them asked the same question: What’s the casserole recipe? The honest answer is that Mom’s original is a slow, oven-baked affair — perfect for a lonely Tuesday when you have nowhere to be — but on the night I celebrated hitting that number, I needed dinner on the table fast, with Caleb already cranky and Ryan just home. This pressure-cooker version captures everything I love about her recipe: the saucy, savory comfort that made a twenty-year-old feel less alone in base housing. It’s the dish that started all of this, and now it belongs to all of you.
Pressure-Cooker Saucy Italian Chicken
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes | Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 1 1/2 lbs)
- 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
- 1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
- 1 cup uncooked long-grain white rice
- 1 cup water
- Fresh parsley, chopped, for garnish
Instructions
- Sear the chicken. Set the pressure cooker to the sauté function. Add a drizzle of olive oil and sear the chicken thighs 2–3 minutes per side until lightly golden. Remove and set aside.
- Build the sauce. Add the onion to the pot and cook 2 minutes until softened. Stir in the garlic and cook 30 seconds more. Add the diced tomatoes, tomato paste, and chicken broth, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom.
- Season. Stir in the Italian seasoning, basil, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes if using. Nestle the seared chicken back into the sauce.
- Pressure cook. Seal the lid and cook on high pressure for 12 minutes. Allow a natural pressure release for 5 minutes, then manually release any remaining pressure.
- Cook the rice. While the chicken cooks, prepare the rice separately on the stovetop or in a rice cooker according to package directions using the water and a pinch of salt.
- Shred and serve. Open the lid, shred the chicken directly in the pot using two forks, and stir to combine with the sauce. Serve over the cooked rice and garnish with fresh parsley.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 420 | Protein: 36g | Fat: 9g | Carbs: 48g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 680mg
About the cook who shared this
Rachel Abernathy
Week 183 of Rachel’s 30-year story
· San Diego, California
Rachel is a twenty-eight-year-old Marine wife and mom of two who has moved five times in six years and learned to cook a Thanksgiving dinner with half her cookware still in boxes. She married young, survived postpartum depression, and feeds her family of four on a junior Marine's salary with a freezer full of pre-made meals and a crockpot that has never let her down. She writes for the military spouses who are cooking dinner alone in base housing and wondering if they're enough. You are.
