Colorful Chik'n Rice Casserole: From Christa's Kitchen

Love it or hate it …… Casserole can be great for planning ahead and feeding a crowd. I happen to love casserole because they are easy to make and is a great leftover food. The recipe below is a yummy dish from my past and I’ll be turning it into a dairy-free vegetarian dish with all the same flavors.

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/chicken-rice-casserole-2

 1^st I’ll be replacing the chicken with Trader Joes Chickenless Strips and if you don’t like meat replacements then a can of garbanzo beans will work too. I usually don’t use meat replacements, but I thought it might be fun for a change.

2^nd I’ll use veggie broth instead of chicken broth and unsweetened soymilk for 2% milk. Also omitting the butter altogether.

3^rd Also I’ll use wild rice instead of plain old white and make a parmesan cheese topping from brazil nuts. The same topping I used on the lasagna from a few blogs ago.

Some things I used

First lets take a look at the fat and calories in both recipes:

1 TBSP Butter: 11.5g FAT 105 CALORIES

8oz Chicken: 12g FAT 450 CALORIES

1.5 cups 2% Milk 7g FAT 200 CALORIES

½ cup Romano Cheese 25g FAT 360 CALORIES

FAT TOTAL: 52.5g

CALORIE TOTAL: 1085

After the RENO:

Chickenless Strips 4.5g FAT 330 CALORIES

Unsweetened Soymilk: 6g FAT 120 CALORIES

Brazil nut Parmesan: 19g FAT 180 CALORIES

FAT TOTAL:29.5g

CALORIE TOTAL: 630

Keep in mind this is for the whole recipe and is only focusing on the fact we are turning this into a plant-based dish. All other ingredients in the original recipe that I didn’t mention above are good with me. The figures are very good estimates but not exact and are from:

http://ndb.nal.usda.gov

Colorful Chik’n Rice Casserole: From Christa’s Kitchen

PREP TIME 15-20min

BAKE TIME 55min

1 pkg of Trader Joes Chickenless strips (diced) or 1 can of garbanzo beans(drained)

½ cup diced onion

1 med size zucchini (quartered and sliced into ½ inch chucks)

1 med size yellow squash (quartered and sliced into ½ inch chucks)

1 med size red bell pepper (large dice)

3 cups cooked wild rice

2 cups veggie broth

¼- ½  cup flour

1-1 ½  cup unsweetened soymilk

½ cup brazil nut parmesan

2 tsp dried rosemary

½ tsp Salt and ½ tsp pepper or to taste

Prepare all veggies, chickless strips, and rice and set aside.

Diced veggies
To make sauce: add broth to saucepan and heat until warm. Add flour whisking until dissolved.  Increase heat to med-high. Add rosemary, salt and pepper. Whisk frequently. After it begins to thicken add milk. Reduce heat and let simmer for 5 minutes.  Should be gravy like.

Sauté veggies and chickenless strips on high heat adding water instead of butter or oil.  Sauté for about 5min or until veggies are slightly soft.

Diced chickenless strips

To make “parmesan cheese”: Add 1/2 cup Brazil nuts, 1 garlic clove, 2 tbsp nutritional yeast, 1/2 tsp salt in blender. Pulse until nuts are crumbly. 

Everything in bowl before mixed

In big mixing bowl add all ingredients except parmesan cheese and mix well. Add mixture to a prepared 9x13-baking dish.  Cover with foil. The parmesan will come later.

Pre-bake

 I made this ahead and put in fridge so these baking instructions are for a completely cooled casserole. Adjust baking time if you did not do this. 

Added parmesan topping

Bake at 375 covered for 30min and uncover sprinkle “parmesan cheese” and bake for another 20 min.

My sons plate

All done!

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