Cooking Mommy: Salsa Chicken Rice Casserole

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Salsa Chicken Rice Casserole

I found this recipe on www.allrecipes.com. In case you can't tell, I've recently spent some time looking for recipes on this website. This got a 4 1/2 star rating, so I thought it might be promising. I was a little skeptical when I was putting it together, but it turned out really yummy! My whole family really liked it a lot, although my hubby said it has too much onion in it. It doesn't! He just has onion and cheese mixture issues. :-) WHEN I make this again, because I will be, I will just leave out the dried minced onion and sprinkle some onion powder on my portion instead.

Ingredients
1 1/3 cups uncooked white rice
2 2/3 cups water
1 lb chicken breasts, cooked and shredded or cubed (I boiled mine for 30 minutes)
2 cups Colby & Monterey Jack Cheese
2 cups cheddar cheese
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 onion, chopped (or 2 Tbsp dried minced onion)
1 1/2 cups mild salsa (I used hot because I had it on hand)

Directions
-Bring water & rice to a boil in a medium sauce pan. Turn down to simmer for 20 minutes. In the meantime, cook your chicken until done and shred or cube. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly spray a 9x13 casserole dish.
-Combine cooked rice, chicken, cream of mushroom soup, cream of chicken soup, onion, salsa, & half of your cheeses together in a large bowl. Spread into your casserole dish and top with remaining cheese. Bake for 40 minutes.

Variation
I changed the recipe a little bit. The recipe called for Monterey Jack cheese instead Colby & Monterey Jack, but the Colby & Monterey Jack was already preshredded, so I chose that. Also, the recipe called for layering the rice, chicken, soups/salsa/onion, and cheeses, but I thought it would be easier to just combine them all and top with half the cheese. So, if you'd like to give these things a try, go ahead. I just thought I made the recipe a little bit easier and you don't have to worry about your rice or chicken getting dried out.

6 servings, 600 calories each (you can try to reduce some of your calories by using 98% fat free soups if you prefer)

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Allergies and Intolerances

My son, Daniel previously had allergies to egg whites and peanuts. I am lactose intolerant. My nephews have allergies to many foods. I will try my best to label things to help those with allergies since I know it's difficult finding recipes sometimes when someone in your home has common food allergies. Make sure you check labels yourself. If it's marked soy-free or nut-free, it only means it doesn't have the soy or nut protein in it, not necessarily the oils. Look for dairy-free, egg-free, gluten/wheat-free, nut-free, and soy-free labels.

Egg replacements

If you need an egg free recipe, I have some great egg replacements. Now these really won't work in recipes that require a lot of eggs, like a meringue or cheesecake, but they do work well in most recipes I've ever tried.

Egg replacement #1: use 1 Tbsp ground flax seed and 3 Tbsp of water in place of 1 egg. Why this works? I don't know, but flax seed is extremely healthy for you, full of lots of omega fatty acids, so this is my preferred substitute.

Egg replacement #2: Boil 1 cup of water and 1 packet of unflavored gelatin together. In it's liquid state, use 3 1/2 Tbsp of this in place of 1 egg.

I have found sometimes one works better than the other. The flax seed seems to work better overall, I believe, but my mother-in-law made Christmas cookies with the gelatin and you couldn't even tell the difference.