Simple casserole

I have a super-simple casserole recipe for you today.

We love broccoli casseroles at my house, but I confess, I don’t make them often. I’ve had several recipes over the years, some with only three or four ingredients, others with a long list. When I was first married, I often made a broccoli casserole with water chestnuts. It was so good, and I always felt a sense of accomplishment when I made it!

I haven’t run across that recipe in years. It’s probably tucked away in a recipe folder I no longer use.

Today’s recipe reminds me of that long-ago recipe. I made it last week, after I got home from work. The prep time is minimal on this, especially if you use a microwave bag of rice rather than cooking rice on the stove. Just mix the ingredients and let it cook while you put together the rest of the meal.

Don’t let the ease of preparation fool you. This is a delicious recipe. And although it’s delicious for a weeknight meal, it would be just as good for company and a perfect dish to take to a covered dish dinner.

If you read my column regularly, you know I get my recipe ideas from many sources. This one came from thebigmamablog.com. I’m a regular reader of this blog, which seldom has recipes. But, when retrieving her delicious chocolate frosting recipe recently, I ran across this broccoli casserole recipe and stashed it in my memory to try soon.

I made few changes to this recipe. I did use a pouch of Uncle Ben’s brown rice, and next time I will cut the amount of butter to 2 tablespoons instead of four. It’s good and buttery with the half stick of butter, but I think it will be just fine with less. I also used Healthy Request cream of mushroom soup with lower sodium, lower fat.

My daughter suggested I put a crumb topping on the casserole the next time. I’m sure it would be good that way, but, honestly, it was just delicious without it!


Broccoli Rice Casserole

• 1 medium onion chopped and sauteed in 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 packages of frozen, chopped broccoli cooked according to package instructions and drained (I bought the small boxes)
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup, lower-sodium, lower-fat
• 1 pouch Uncle Ben’s brown rice, cooked in microwave according to package instructions.
• 1 8 oz. jar of Cheez Whiz

Combine all ingredients and bake at 350 in a greased 9X13 baking dish for 1 hour.

Adapted from thebigmamablog.com