Chicken and Wild Rice Hotdish

A delicious and simple hotdish of chicken and wild rice flavored with cream of mushroom soup.

Chase off the last of winter's chill with a hotdish.  This is a recipe my husband remembers his Mom making when he was younger.  We didn't have her recipe so we put this together as best as we could with his memories and my cooking experience (with some googling).

Chase off the last of winter's chill with hotdish. [Tweet this]

For this hotdish, I used all wild rice.  Some people use a wild rice mix with white or brown rice, but I wanted all wild rice.  I still had plenty of wild rice from my husband's last trip to Minnesota so that's what I used.  My husband found a family sized package of boneless skinless chicken thighs on sale so that's also what we used.  You could easily use chicken breast or a whole split chicken with or without skin and/or bones.  To add a little color but still keep this recipe simple I added some frozen broccoli. Then, of course, to make this a hotdish it needed cream of mushroom soup.

I see why hotdishes are so popular.  Hotdishes are hardy, simple, and taste amazing. This hotdish was exactly that.  It also made a big 9x13 pan full so it's plenty to feed a large family or just 2 people all week.

Hotdishes are hardy, simple, and taste amazing. [Tweet this]

Chicken and Wild Rice Hotdish

Ingredients:

2 cups dry wild rice, cooked
1 shallot, minced (optional)
1 clove garlic, minced (optional)
2 10.5 oz cans cream of mushroom soup
2 10.5 oz cans full of milk
1 1 pound bag of frozen broccoli
12 chicken thighs

Preheat oven to 350F

Cook the wild rice in water or chicken broth until it's tender (I did this the night before).

Saute the shallot and garlic in a little butter or oil until tender and fragrant (if using).  Or you could also just use some garlic powder and onion powder.

In a large bowl mix the wild rice, shallot, garlic, soup, and milk until thoroughly combined.  Set aside.

Season the chicken thighs all over with salt and pepper and lightly sear on both sides in a frying pan or griddle. (This step may not be necessary but I didn't want to risk the chicken not cooking properly.  The whole hotdish bakes for an hour and gets very hot and bubbly so this may be an unnecessary step...use your judgment)

Pour the rice mixture into a 9x13 baking dish and smooth out. Top with the broccoli and lastly the chicken.

Bake at 350F for about 1 hour until the chicken is thoroughly cooked and the soup mixture is bubbly and thickened.

Allow to cool for 15 minutes before serving.  Serve with side of your choice I served it with Sweet Dill Glazed Carrots (I'll post this recipe soon).

Enjoy.

For more hotdishes and casseroles check out:

Tater Tot Hotdish ---------------------

Unstuffed Pepper      Casserole      ------------------

Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole

Spinach Pasta            Bake        ------------------

For more wild rice recipes check out:

Wild Rice Cherry Pecan Salad

Spiced Eggplant and Mushrooms

Mushroom and Wild Rice Soup

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Tater Tot Hotdish

Ground beef and veggies in a creamy sauce topped with tater tots.

For those of you not from Minnesota (or like me and married to a Minnesotan), a hotdish is basically a casserole.  Generally, they are made up of four simple ingredients; meat, veggies, cream of mushroom soup, and a starch. I think of casseroles/hotdishes as being wintertime food.  They are simple, warm, and hardy.  A great dinner for a cold, dark day.

#Hotdish is a Minnesotan casserole | #TaterTotHotdish  [Tweet this]

It doesn't feel like a Minnesota winter ever in Hawaii but it gets a little chilly.  I've been here for 4 years and I've become acclimated to Hawaiian living.  It's great to live somewhere where the temperature highs are usually 80s during the summer and 60s for lows in the winter.  This winter has felt colder than the previous ones even though it's really still not winter-like when compared to Minnesota (I know I lived in Minnesota for 2 winters).  So, roll your eyes if you live somewhere really cold but I've been cold this winter and a hotdish sounded perfect (this is my husband's favorite).

Tater Tot #Hotdish is perfect #coldweatherfood  [Tweet this]

Tater Tot Hotdish

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 pound frozen mixed vegetables
1 10.5 oz can cream of mushroom soup
1 soup can full of milk
frozen tater tots

Brown ground beef in a frying pan until fully cooked.  Remove meat from pan into a large bowl.

Pour off most of the grease from the frying pan, leaving about 1 tsp, and saute the onion over medium heat until translucent.  Add the cooked onion to the meat in the large bowl.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Add the vegetables, soup, and milk to the meat and onions.  Stir and mix well.

Pour into an 8x8 inch baking pan and top with a single layer of tater tots (pack them in there tightly you want "full tot coverage"--says my husband).

Bake at 350F for about 45 minutes.  Then broil it for a few minutes to make the tots crispier if you like.

Makes 4-6 servings.

Enjoy.

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For more cold weather food check out:

Bean and Barley Stew

Chicken & Wild Rice Hotdish

Lamb & Guinness Shepherd's Pie

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Unstuffed Pepper Casserole

Stuffed peppers, unstuffed, and made into a casserole.  

This recipe came about because I had so many peppers.  I needed a bell pepper for some recipe I was making one day.  My husband was going out so I asked him to pick up a pepper for me.  He came home with a 2 pound bag of mini sweet peppers (they were on sale).  They worked fine in whatever recipe I was making at the time but I had plenty leftover.  I put peppers in just about everything for a few days when I finally came up with this idea.

Stuffed peppers are great but you can't really stuff the mini peppers so why not just throw everything together and make it a casserole?  So my Unstuffed Pepper Casserole was born.  Not only did this taste great but it was super simple and used plenty of leftovers.  I used left over rice, chicken, a tomato, and a zucchini.  As well as items I keep in my freezer or pantry like beans, cheese, an onion, and a can of tomatoes.  So even though the ingredient list is long, it's all stuff I had laying around anyway.

Unstuffed Pepper Casserole

Ingredients:

1 large zucchini, diced
1 medium onion, diced
About 20 mini sweet peppers, sliced (~3 cups)
1 medium tomato diced
2 Tbsp minced garlic
2 cups cooked chicken, shredded or chopped (leftover rotisserie works well)
4 cups coked rice
2 cups cooked black beans
1 14.5 ounce can of stewed tomatoes, pureed (~2 cups)
2 Tbsp paprika
oregano
cumin
habanero flakes (optional)
Chicken broth, as needed
2 cups shredded cheese (I used cheddar)

In a large skillet, over medium heat with a little oil, cook the zucchini, onion, peppers, and tomato with salt and pepper until softened.  Add the garlic and cook until fragrant.

In a large bowl mix the chicken, rice, and beans with the cooked vegetables.  Then pour in the pureed tomatoes, paprika, oregano, cumin, habanero flakes or other chili flakes (if using), and salt & pepper to taste.

Mix well and add some chicken broth if it looks too dry.  Spread mixture in a large casserole pan and top with cheese.

Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes.

Let cool for abut 10 minutes before serving.  Makes 6 Servings.

Enjoy.

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Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole

A pasta casserole made with my favorite burger toppings.

I hope everyone is having a great holiday season.  I celebrated Christmas in Las Vegas with my family.  It may not have been a traditional Christmas but with me coming from Hawaii and them from North Carolina it was a good mid-point and lots of fun.

This casserole was suggested by my husband.  Casseroles (or hot dishes) are simple, tasty, and give plenty of leftovers.  They can be prepared ahead of time and held in the refrigerator until ready to bake and eat.  Casseroles can also be made in large quantities and you can eat them all week or freeze portions for later.

In this casserole I used ground beef and bacon because I always like bacon on my burgers.  I also added jalapenos and barbecue sauce because those are my husbands favorite burger toppings.  I even added some zucchini for more vegetable nutrition (zucchini is a great vegetable to hide in any dish because it takes on it's surrounding flavors, adds bulk to the dish with out fat and, adds some fiber and other nutrients).  Lastly I topped it with cheese for a deliciously satisfying casserole.

Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef
2 strips bacon, cut into small pieces
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic minced
3 tomatoes, diced
2 zucchini, diced
2 jalapenos, diced (with or without seeds depending on how spicy you want it)
2 cups dried pasta
1/2 cup BBQ sauce
Cheese (Colbyjack, Cheddar, or be creative and try blue cheese or fetta--I used colbyjack)

In a large saute pan, brown the beef, over medium heat until thoroughly cooked, pour off grease, and set the ground beef aside in a very large bowl.

In the same pan, fry the bacon pieces, over medium heat, until crispy.  Remove the bacon, add to the beef and set aside.

Lower the heat to medium low and cook the onion, garlic, tomatoes, zucchini, and jalapenos stirring occasionally until soft (you can cook them in the bacon grease or replace it with the oil of your choice).  Add the cooked vegetables to the meat in the bowl.

Meanwhile cook the pasta according to package directions, drain and add to the bowl.  Pour in the barbecue sauce and stir gently to combine.

Spread the mixture into a buttered dish (at least 9x13 inches) and top with your favorite cheese.  I used about 2 cups of cheese but you can use as much or as little as you like.

Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F until heated through and cheese is browned.  Let cool for about 10 minutes before serving.  Makes about 6-8 servings.

Enjoy.

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Easy Shepherd's Pie

A casserole made with leeks, celery, peas, veal and cream of mushroom soup and topped with mashed potatoes.

I don't know much about shepherd's pie, but I know it is topped with mashed potatoes.  So any time I top a casserole (or hot dish) with mashed potatoes I call it shepherd's pie.  I think traditionally it's supposed to have lamb in it but that is not what I had.  I had left over veal roast that I used in this recipe and it was great.  A casserole is not a casserole, to me, with out cream of mushroom soup.  It's quick and easy and always tastes good.  Any vegetable would work in this shepherd's pie, you could easily use a bag of frozen mixed vegetables, but I had celery and peas.  I used leeks because they looked good in the store and I've always wanted to try them (this was my first time) but onions could be substituted.  That is one great thing about casseroles, you can use anything you want in them, they are quick, and they taste great.

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp butter
1 tbsp garlic, minced
1 cup celery, chopped
2 leeks, white parts only (chopped)
1 cup frozen peas
2 cups veal, already cooked and chopped (substitute any kind of meat)
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
3 cups mashed potatoes

Chop the leeks, white part only and let soak in water to remove any sediment, then drain. 

Heat a large saute pan on medium low heat and melt about 1 Tbsp butter.  Cook the garlic in the butter for about 1 minute until soft and fragrant then add the leeks and celery.  Let sweat until leeks are translucent and celery softens (about 10-20 minutes).  Salt and pepper to taste.

Meanwhile prepare mashed potatoes how ever you like them.

When the leeks and celery are soft add the peas until they thaw and then add the veal mixing thoroughly.  Remove the veggies and veal into a large bowl and mix in the cream of mushroom soup (do not dilute).

Spread mixture into a buttered 8x8 inch baking dish and top with the mashed potatoes.  Bake in 350F oven for 30 minutes and then broil for a few minutes to get the top brown and crispy.  Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.  Serves 4-6.  Enjoy.

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