EASIEST DINNER EVER.

Last Saturday was one of those days when the second your feet hit the floor you are on the move. We ran a bunch of errands and moved some of Tom’s stuff into a storage space which made for a long and tiring day. I actually had a late afternoon nap when we were done. For me, this is huge. I believe that napping is a skill, and I do not excel at it.

When I woke up starving at supper time, I debated briefly about what we would have before deciding to cook up some rice to eat with the leftover chicken in the fridge. Then, I decided we needed broccoli too and before I knew it I was throwing everything in the pot, putting on the lid and hoping for the best. Twenty minutes later, Tom awoke from his nap and called to me from the bedroom, “Whatever you are cooking smells amazing!”. I couldn’t believe how perfectly this worked out. It kind of reminded me of Broccoli Cheddar Sidekicks, in a good way!

I have a one-pot pasta recipe on here that I love, but now that I am avoiding gluten whenever possible rice is the perfect substitute. Even when I was typing out the recipe, I couldn’t believe how simple it was to throw together. Winter night comfort food at its finest!

Cheesy One-Pot Chicken, Broccoli & Rice Casserole

Serves 4 generously

Ingredients:

• 1 quart low sodium chicken stock
• ½ cup cream
• 2 cups frozen broccoli florets
• 2 small cooked chicken breasts, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tsp. dried Italian seasoning
• 2 cups uncooked rice
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• Salt, to taste

Instructions:

In a large pot, bring the stock, cream, broccoli, diced chicken, garlic and seasoning to a boil. Stir in the rice and cover with a lid. Simmer on low heat for 20 minutes.

Remove the lid. If you have any excess liquid, simmer for a few more minutes on low heat, uncovered. Once the rice is perfectly cooked and most of the excess liquid is absorbed, stir in the cheese until melted. Taste and add salt if desired. Serve!

Notes:

I imagine fresh broccoli would work too, you may just end up with a bit less liquid.

I used cream because I had some leftover to use up but I suspect milk would work just fine also, and would make the dish a little lighter.

The rice I used had a stovetop cooking time of 20 minutes. I would not recommend Minute rice for this recipe.

If you don’t have any cooked chicken handy, just chop up some raw chicken and sauté it in your soup pot before adding everything else! You could also eliminate the chicken for an awesome side dish.