Custom Search

Monday, April 11, 2011

Broccoli, chicken, cheese, and rice casserole

Big name, eh?  This is something I make every couple of weeks for dinner, and it isn't exactly difficult to make, but I wanted to test out freezing it when we were planning meals for when the new baby was near arrival.  As it turns out, it freezes fine!  I froze each part separately, but I'm sure it would be fine to pre-make it if you wanted to.

What to do:

Make rice according to package directions, enough for 4 servings.

Cook and dice chicken, anyway you wish.  I alternate between the slow cooker, the oven, and the grill.  I cook 3 or 4 lbs of chicken at a time and dice and freeze into 1 lb portions for later use.

Cook 16oz broccoli according to package directions, or steam fresh broccoli!

For my freezer version, I stirred together the rice and broccoli, then placed that into a large zippered bag.  In a smaller zippered bag I had 1lb of cooked, diced chicken.  When ready to prepare the meal, I placed the rice and broccoli, the chicken, a bag of shredded cheddar, and a can of cream of chicken soup into a bowl and microwaved until heated through.
If I were making this for dinner tonight, I would just toss everything together in steps, then bake in the oven at 350 for about 20 minutes, with a little extra cheese on top!

So, the lesson here is you can make ahead and freeze rice dishes.  I know rice isn't difficult, but brown rice often takes awhile to cook, and this way you can have a casserole almost ready!

No comments: