Comfort food … any casserole with rice! Delicious, but I avoid them due to the high carbohydrates and because I am not a big fan of cream-of-anything soup. What to do the at least improve the nutrition? Brown rice. Boneless, skinless chicken breast. Basic white sauce with onions to replace soup. Easy on the fats; no cheese.
This will either be really good … OR really bad!
Turns out it was really good and worth keeping in my MHC digital recipe box.
Next time I can reduce the calories by another 20 to 25 by dropping the butter drizzle on the cornflakes and by switching to 2% milk without losing any of the creaminess.
Read on...
COMFORT CHICKEN & RICE CASSEROLE
2 C cooked, diced (or shredded) chicken
1 C brown rice, dry
¼ C wild rice, dry
2 stalks celery, diced large
1 medium onion, diced small
½ stick butter (divided 3T and 1T, melted)
¼ C AP flour
1 can evaporated milk
1 32 ounce ‘box’ vegetable broth (alt. chicken stock) (divided)
1/3 C sliced almonds
¾ C corn flakes cereal, crushed
salt & pepper
RICE
Combine dry brown rice, wild rice, 2 C vegetable broth in rice cooker. Cook according to manufacturers directions. (Note to self: when rice is done allow it to steam for 15 minutes. Fluff rice.)
SAUCE
In a 2 quart sauce pan, melt 3 T butter. Add onion and sauté until onions begin to soften.
Add flour to butter and onion (roux). Cook over medium heat for 2 minutes.
Slowly stir in evaporated milk.
Stir until the sauce begins to thicken. If the sauce becomes too thick, thin slightly with vegetable broth. Salt and pepper to taste.
ASSEMBLY & BAKING
In a greased (Pam) 9x13 pan combine diced chicken, diced celery, sliced almonds, and cooked rice. Pour sauce over ingredients and stir thoroughly until sauce is evenly distributed. If rice-chicken mixture seems dry, stir in vegetable broth 2-3 T at a time.
Sprinkle crushed cornflakes over top of chicken-rice-sauce mixture. Drizzle 1 T melted butter over crushed cornflakes.
Place in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes or until mixture is completely heated through.
~Enjoy!
