Tonight for Dinner . . .Chicken and Wild Rice

Tonight for dinner we had chicken and rice casserole.  Ashtyn and Mackinlay thought the word casserole sounded horrible and that we should just agree to call it "chicken and rice bowl", so we did.  As I was making dinner some of the girls were in the kitchen and it was mentioned that I should be writing down their favorite recipes so that they will have them later on, and so I will.   Growing up we had this exact recipe (except it was called a casserole) and it was always served in this beautiful blue covered dish that My mom got while on a trip to Portugal.    I have this dish now, and I was a bit GIDDY that I got to serve my girls the same dinner - with a different name - in the same dish.  It brought back good memories.  It brought back happy thoughts of my mom.   It brought back thoughts of dinner in the kitchen at 28 Bracebridge Cres., in Calgary.   It brought thoughts of the China Man painting that hung in the kitchen - - - but that is a story for another day!  Here is the recipe, documented so my girls can have their own memory of the chicken and rice un casserole in the serving dish from Portugal.

Chicken and Wild rice Bowl - No longer Casserole

1pkg. Uncle Bens Long Grain Wild Rice
1/3 c. chopped green pepper
sliced mushrooms ( I left out because no one here likes them and I didn't have any)
1/2 c. chopped onion
2 cups diced chicken
1 c chopped carrots
1 can cream chicken soup ( that is what the recipe says but i think cream of any kind of soup is gross so  i made my own cream of soup concoction.)

{INGREDIENTS: for the cream of soup not from a can}

1 tablespoon flour
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup milk
salt and pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Melt the butter in a small sauce pan over medium-low heat. When melted, whisk in the flour and continue whisking until smooth and bubbly. Remove from the heat and slowly whisk in the chicken broth and milk. Return to the heat and bring to a gentle boil, whisking constantly, until the soup thickens. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Then add:

1/2 brick of cream cheese or 1/2 c. sour cream

1/4 tsp pepper 

2 cups cooked brown rice.

Buttered bread chunks

• Cook both the wild rice and brown rice as directed on package
• boil chicken, or *bake chicken. Let cool then dice
• make cream of chicken concoction
• combine everything together
• place buttered bread hunks on the top
• place in casserole dish and bake 325 for 40 mins.