I am attempting to kick off a cooking spree while I have a little time off of school. Unfortunately I had a late night at work and got a late start, but this meal proved to be worth it and is even making it to the favorites page. On them menu tonight is fresh green beans and a modified chicken and rice casserole. This is inspired from Cooking Light”s, the Enlightened Cook. Give yourself an hour to prep and cook this casserole. It is not a 30 minute meal.
Cooking is creative outlet for me and tonight I made a few substitutions.
1. Instead of squash and zucchini I used extra onion, 2 yellow and 1 red green peppers.
2. Instead of rice I substituted a Trader Joe’s Harvest Grains Blend, which includes Orzo, CousCous, and Quiona.
The recipe requires you to cook and shred the chicken before combining it into the casserole dish as well as the rice and peppers (or zucchini/squash combo.)
I cooked the Harvest Mix and the peppers together and then combined everything into an 8 x 12 casserole dish.
The best part of this recipe is the milk/cheese sauce you combine and pour over the chicken mixture. I used skim milk instead of 2%.
The end result was an awesome combination of sweat and crunchy with the peppers, onions, chicken and a crunchy cheese topping due to the broiling at the end. I would definitely make this again and double the recipe to make 8 servings so we had more left overs!
How do you take make cooking creative?
Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 1/4 cups)
Cost per Serving: $2.16
Ingredients
- Cooking spray
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1 (8-ounce) bone-in chicken breast half, skinned
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, divided
- 1 (14-ounce) can fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 (8-ounce) zucchini, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
- 1 (8-ounce) yellow squash, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
- 2 cups cooked long-grain white rice
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary
- 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
- 1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated fresh pecorino Romano cheese, divided
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Heat a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Lightly coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion to pan; sauté 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle chicken with 1/4 teaspoon pepper; add chicken, meaty side down, to pan. Cook 6 minutes or until browned; turn chicken over. Add broth to pan. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 15 minutes or until chicken is done. Remove chicken from pan, reserving broth in pan. Let chicken stand 10 minutes. Remove chicken from bones; shred. Discard bones. Place chicken in a large bowl.
3. Bring broth to a boil; cook, uncovered, until reduced to 1/2 cup (about 10 minutes). Add broth mixture to chicken. Melt butter in pan over medium-high heat. Add squash to pan; sauté 3 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring frequently. Add squash mixture, rice, and minced rosemary to the chicken mixture, and toss gently to combine.
4. Place flour in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Gradually add milk, stirring until smooth; bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute or until thick, stirring constantly with a whisk. Remove from heat; let stand 30 seconds. Add 1/4 cup cheese; stir with a whisk until smooth. Add remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper, milk mixture, and salt to chicken mixture; stir to combine. Spoon chicken mixture into a broiler-safe 8-inch ceramic baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup cheese over rice mixture; bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Remove casserole from oven.
5. Preheat broiler.
6. Broil casserole 5 minutes or until golden.
Nutritional Information
- Calories: 337
- Fat: 9.7g (sat 5.7g,mono 2.7g,poly 0.6g)
- Protein: 23.9g
- Carbohydrate: 38.2g
- Fiber: 2.8g
- Cholesterol: 56mg
- Iron: 2.3mg
- Sodium: 592mg
- Calcium:331mg
