Well, it’s been a little serious here lately, what with probiotic trials, paper eating, and Mommy Meltdowns, so I’m lightening it up a bit with a new recipe today!
When Jed was first diagnosed with MPI (Milk Protein Intolerance) I struggled mightily in the kitchen. ALL of my limited cooking skills were centered on milk, cheese, butter, oh, and did I mention DAIRY?? Every casserole I knew had a can or two of Cream of ____ soup added; every dish I made required a generous handful of cheese on top.
So early on, I searched for some casseroles I could make dairy-free, and I found a pretty decent Chicken and Rice Casserole to try.
I modified it a bit, and it was a HUGE hit with the family! We all loved it!
Now, with Jed’s fructose issues, I’ve had to modify it quite a bit more. I was worried it wouldn’t be the same, but my boys still inhaled it and pronounced it “delicious!” Whew!
This probably won’t be safe ‘as-is’ for an FPIES family, but if Zac passes quinoa, I’m willing to modify the casserole again!
So here’s what you do:
Cook the rice. I like to use broth for the liquid, but water will do just fine. (I didn’t take a picture of that because, well, it’s rice.) *UPDATE: this works well half and half rice and quinoa, so feel free to try this with entirely cooked quinoa!
Heat up some fat in a pan. The original recipe called for butter, but that’s a no-go for us dairy free folks. I used to use Earth Balance Buttery Spread, but I haven’t trialed it on Jed yet and am not sure it’s safe for his fructose issues. Since I was eliminating such a flavorful addition to the casserole, I saved some lovely chicken fat in the fridge to use instead. It did exactly what I hoped and imparted tons of flavor to the dish!
Then toss in your veggies. This time I used celery, broccoli, onion, bell pepper and zucchini because it is what I had in the fridge and we were trialing Jed on onion at the time. (Turns out zucchini is on the ‘avoid’ list for fructose, so we trialed 2 veggies that night!) In the past I’ve thrown in carrots, garlic, peas, and yellow squash, so really, use whatever veggies you’d like! Cook the veggies until they are soft.
Veggies cooking up.
Add your flour. The original recipe just used regular ol’ all-purpose; us allergy folk use strange things like millet and quinoa. I used quinoa flour, and it worked beautifully!
After you’ve mixed the flour around a tad, dump in your liquid. Water works, but broth is better. Stir it up until the flour isn’t clumpy, then cook it a little until it starts to thicken.
Throw in your chicken. You could certainly modify this to use a different meat, or even make it a veggie casserole with some nuts added for protein! I used chicken, though. (I usually cook up a big batch of chicken in the crock pot and shred it, then portion it into 2 cup servings in Ziploc baggies to freeze. Then I’m ready to go whenever I need some shredded chicken for a recipe.)
Softened veggies, flour and liquid, and chicken with seasonings
Oh, and at any point you like, you can toss in some seasoning. Sea salt and pepper, of course, but also basil, parsley, thyme, oregano…whatever floats your boat!
Next you mix your rice in with the veggie sauce and mix it well.
Add some rice and almost done!
After that, pour your mixture into a casserole dish (spray it with some sort of cooking spray first; I make my own homemade “Pam” with olive oil and water in a misting bottle) and pop it in the oven!
*At this point, you could easily pop this in the freezer. I often make a double batch just to be able to have a quick, ready to go meal for later. To heat after freezing, simply cook it for about twice as long! Seriously, could this recipe be any better?
Into the oven!
I decided to use the last little bit of my homemade cheese as a topping on one part of the casserole to see how it worked and if it tasted okay. It worked, and it tasted great! So that’s an option if regular cheese or the vegan cheese is okay for you. I added it about 15 minutes before I took the casserole out of the oven.
Some cheese on one side ready to melt away
Looks great!
Yum!!
- 2 c. rice (or quinoa)
- 2 c. cooked and shredded chicken
- ½ c. fat (oil, butter, schmaltz)
- ¼ c. gluten-free flour
- 1½ c. liquid (water, broth)
- veggies (to taste - probably no more than about 4 c. total)
- onion & garlic (if they're safe)
- Cook rice.
- In another pan, heat your fat and add your veggies, onion and garlic. Cook until softened.
- Add the flour and stir. Mix the liquid in until the flour has no clumps. Cook until thickened a bit.
- Add chicken and stir. Toss in whatever seasonings you'd like.
- Mix in the rice completely.
- Grease a casserole dish and pour the mixture in. Bake at 350 degrees F for half an hour (a little longer won't hurt it!)
- If you'd like, add some cheese to the top about ten minutes before removing the casserole from the oven. (Bread crumbs would probably be good, too!)
- Enjoy!
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Do you use pre-cooked chicken for this? I’m thinking yes from the photos but I can’t quite tell!!
Thanks for the catch, Ricky! Yes, pre-cooked, shredded chicken. I updated the post to mention that. Appreciate it!
This sounds great! I could sub in beans for the meat to make it veg! Got it pinned to our Gluten Free Fridays board! Thanks for linking up!
Cindy from vegetarianmamma.com
Oh yes, it’s very versatile! Hope it works out for you!
Hi! Just made it and is in the oven now! Really excited… Just a question for next time- is it 2 cups cooked rice?
Oh, I hope it turned out well! Yes, it is 2 cups of cooked rice. Sorry – I’ll update that in the recipe! Thanks for the catch. 🙂
I made this today and it was pretty good. I really like strong flavors and this turned out a bit bland for me but my hubby (who likes less strong flavors) loved it. I plan to make it more and play with the ingredients a bit! Thanks for taking the time to post it!
Glad it worked for you! That’s the key to any main course dish, really: tweak the seasonings until it works for you! Two of my family members despise spicy foods, but I love them. So I tend to err on the side of caution when it comes to any spices or seasonings in my recipes. You can always add more – but it’s impossible to make something LESS flavorful! 🙂
You inspired me to create this with green peppers from our garden plus shredded cabbage and carrots (from cole slaw the night before). You said to use any veggie. And a little aged cheddar on top (lactose free). And It turned out delicious. Even without onions which I recently discovered no longer suit my stomach . 🙁 And with fresh sage and thyme. I am having a had enough time with my own food issues. Can’t imagine trying to figure out your Babies problems. You are a hero. Thanks.
Hi Suzy! Wow! This sounds delicious. Thanks for sharing your tweaks!
I’m so sorry you’re having food issues, too. It’s a sad day when you lose onions. 🙁
Good luck figuring it all out, and thanks for visiting. Hope you stay around!
This was a big hit in our community group tonight. I used broccoli and carrots and beef drippings as my liquid. Delicious!
Yum! That sounds great! I’m glad it worked well for you. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
wish I had a calorie count.
Sorry, I never have done a calorie count before. 🙁
I suggest that since this is called a gluten free recipe, that the actual recipe should actually indicate that ‘flour’ means ‘gluten free flour of your choice’. I’m not used to gluten free cooking and almost didn’t catch that before trying to make this for a g-f friend who is ill. I know now that you mentioned this in the body of the post, but my vision made finding that detail into a real chore.
Sorry, Marj! That’s a good catch. Recipe correction made. 🙂
And God bless you for being awesome enough to make food for a g-f friend! Very few friends are willing to head down the “weird food” path for us. We all are extremely grateful for people like you! Hugs!! (Hope your friend is better, now.)
Excited to find this recipe. Think it may work for our adult son who has a ton of food allergies! He does not do well with onion or garlic although he loves both from his days of eating it before he found out that he doesn’t tolerate either.
He is able to use the green part of green onions in small amounts. He is also doing a bit of onion powder and even less garlic powder now. I want to try using some garlic infused olive oil since he tolerates EVOO. I have read that infusing the oil can work for people who have issues with fructose absorption.
He also is able to eat brown rice pancakes made with a fermented batter of brown rice flour that I make. It takes about 3 days of mixing up a half cup brown rice flour/half cup of clean water (no chemicals) mixed together and subsequently added to the batter twice a day. I mix it in a canning jar, covered with cheesecloth and set it on the counter on a kitchen towel that I wrap around the jar to keep the temperature stable. I would be happy to share my recipe for the pancakes if you would like. Even people who eat gluten and anything they want to eat love these pancakes!
Judi, you are awesome!! You’re proof that a mothers work is never done. 😁
I’d love your pancake recipe, if you don’t mind sharing!
Garlic infused oils can certainly work well for people with fructose malabsorption, so I hope he does well with it. I also hope this recipe works for you.
Thanks for sharing!! Hugs, mama!!