Best Ever Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole

CHEESY CHICKEN AND RICE CASSEROLE
Source: Me!
Servings: 8 (or 6 big ones :)

Ingredients:

• 3-4 chicken breasts, boneless/skinless, cooked and cut into bite-sized pieces
• 3 c. brown rice, cooked (or whatever 1 c. uncooked makes)
• 1 large onion, diced
• 4 large carrots, diced
• 4 stalks of celery, diced
• 1 can of mushrooms, drained (or 1 package of fresh sliced mushrooms)
• 1 tbsp jarred garlic
• 1 can of Campbell's low-fat cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 c. milk (I used 1/2 the soup can)
• 1 c. fat-free or low-fat sour cream
• 1 tbsp dry mustard
• salt and pepper (I like lots of fresh ground black pepper in this)
• 2 c. low-fat shredded cheddar cheese, divided

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Cook diced chicken and rice, if you aren't using leftovers.
3. While they are cooking, dice carrots, celery and onion (mushrooms too, if using fresh). Cook the vegetables in a pan until they are soft. Add garlic and the canned mushrooms at the end and cook for about a minute.
4. In a large mixing bowl, mix the chicken, rice, vegetables, soup, sour cream, milk, dry mustard, s&p and 1 c. of the cheddar.
5. Pour it into a large greased rectangular pan, like your lasagna pan. Top with remaining cheese. Bake for 20 mins if ingredients are already warm, 30-40 if cold.

Comments:

I have a cold and had a hankering for creamy comfort food. I had chicken breasts thawed and the other ingredients are things I always have on hand. The KEY to this recipe is the dry mustard. It might sound crazy, but it doesn't make it taste mustardy at all, trust me, because I LOATHE mustard. It just gives it it a nice kick. Using all low-fat and fat-free ingredients, due to the vegetable content, this is a pretty light recipe too!

You could totally use leftover chicken or turkey too. I would keep the onion/carrot/celery veggie base, because it gives it a nice flavour, but you could definitely add chopped peppers, corn, broccoli, etc...