Chicken, Broccoli & Rice Casserole

This is one of my go-to meals because I usually have enough ingredients on hand to throw some version of it together. :) This time, I didn't have any cream of mushroom soup but I did have chicken broth. I probably could have just used the broth, but I wanted to try to make homemade condensed cream of chicken soup. I tried this recipe & thought it turned out nicely.

Yield: 3 cups (about 2 cans)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning (I skipped this)
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt (or less; taste to test)
1/4 teaspoon parsley (I skipped this too - just didn't have any on hand)
dash of paprika
1 1/2 cups milk
3/4 cup flour

Instructions:

1. In medium-sized saucepan, boil chicken broth, 1/2 cup of the milk, and the seasonings for a minute or two (longer if using fresh onions or garlic).

2. In a bowl, whisk together the remaining 1 cup of milk and flour. Add to boiling mixture and continue whisking briskly until mixture boils and thickens.

Preparation Time:

5 minutes

Cooking Time:

10-15 minutes

Then I loosely followed this recipe for the casserole.

CHICKEN, BROCCOLI, RICE CASSEROLE

1 (5 oz.) can Swanson boned chicken (I used about 10 frozen chicken tenders & put them straight into the casserole, frozen & all)
1 c. milk
1 (10 oz.) can cream of chicken soup (I used my homemade version)
1/2 c. chopped onions (skipped this cause we don't really care for onions)
1/2 c. chopped green peppers (skipped this because I wanted to keep it simple)
1 med. size bag broccoli (I used about 3/4 of a head of fresh broccoli)
1 1/2 c. Minute Rice (I used long grain white rice & followed the directions in the previous post for baking rice - I said I "loosely" followed this recipe, right?) :)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
American cheese, shredded (or cheddar - it's what we had)

Combine all ingredients except cheese and put in casserole. Cover and bake for 25 to 30 minutes (mine baked for a total of 1 hour, since this chicken was frozen & the rice was not minute rice). Uncover, sprinkle shredded cheese on top. Bake an additional 5 minutes or until cheese is melted. Bake at 350 degrees.

*******

It turned out great & I was super excited that EVERYONE ate it! Even the kids. Finn ate some broccoli after being bribed with gum. :P And Cedar got to try the same dinner as the rest of the family (for the first time), only his version was chopped in the food processor. Anyway, not a super exciting meal, but it's pretty tasty & I didn't have to buy anything extra to make it! Sounds like a winner to me! :)