Light Broccoli Cheddar Rice Casserole

Light!  Not full of condensed milk products and chemicals!

LIGHT!

How's your day?  I just found out that I'm going to get PAID to teach a cooking class to some kids once a month, and I'm beyond psyched about it.  Anyone else want to hire me to do food stuff?   Don't jump all at once!  

Anyway, this dish.  The dish I was going to show you yesterday! If you like the old-school baked rice dish with cream of mushroom soup but mayyyyybe want a little bit more flavor, you'll LOVE this.  Also.  Besides a bit of chopping there is zero prep or cooking in stages - everything goes in a large skillet, bakes all together, and BOOM.  Casserole.  Healthy casserole!  Rotisserie chicken or leftover chicken is my drug of choice here, but feel free to cook and shred a breast or two if you'd like.  

This really is just so simple.  You need cooked shredded chicken, pine nuts, sharp cheddar, garlic, chicken stock, brown or wild rice (mine's a blend from TJ's that's super delish), mushrooms, heavy cream, and sour cream.  Don't freak out about the dairy products - what makes this dish so light is that we don't use very much of them, so every bite ends up tasting super decadent, but doesn't have a ton of fat and calories.  Promise.  

Let's do a teensy bit of prep first!  Peel and mince the garlic.  Then, grate the cheese.  

Combine the cheese with the sour cream and heavy cream to form a thick sauce (basically our own cream of whatever soup), then set it aside until we're ready to use it.  

Go ahead and measure your rice and stock, too.  

Now, let's get our oven preheating to 400F and a large ovenproof skillet preheating to medium-high for the pine nuts.  As a note, I only use the skillet on the stovetop for the pine nuts, so if you don't have a skillet that can go in the oven just toast the pine nuts separately and then make this in a baking dish.  No biggz.  Add the pine nuts to the skillet and shake them around for a minute or two just until they start to brown, then turn the skillet off.  

Now, we build our dish!  Pour the rice into the skillet.....

....and the stock.  

The sprinkle the mushrooms and garlic over the top.  

Stir this all together to coat the mushrooms in the stock, and sprinkle everything with salt.  

Over the mushrooms, layer the chicken then the broccoli.  

Finally, top the whole mess with the cheese mixture.  

It'll be thick, so use a spoon to dollop it over the top of the casserole if it won't pour easily.  

Now, we're ready to bake!  Cook the dish for 30-45 minutes (depending on your rice) until all the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender.  If the top of the casserole starts to brown before the rice is cooked, cover the dish with tin foil in the oven until it's all cooked through. 

And here we go.  

Delicious, light, healthy, full of nutrients and whole grains.  What's not to like?  We made a balanced meal in one dish that actually tastes great.  

The brown cheesy bits on top are my favorite part of this, but then the creamy rice and mushrooms with the surprise of the pine nuts...

....I'm having leftovers of this for lunch today.  

Just do it.