Cheesy Chicken Broccoli and Brown Rice Casserole

Well, it's been a while since I posted. Oh, well.

This is a delicious recipe. Seriously, all three of my children, my sister, and her daughter ate GOBS of it. Joe ate 2 helpings. My brother-in-law ate some. No one complained that it was yucky. MOM WIN!! It's gooey and veggie-liscious, but still filling like a meal and doesn't use cream-of-crap soup. Biggest problem: I wanted to eat more even though I wasn't hungry. LOL.


Ingredients:
2 Tbs unsalted butter
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp granulated garlic
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 1/4 c long grain brown rice
5 c water
4 tsp chicken bullion
1 1/4 c whole milk
20 saltine crackers, crushed
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 c Parmesan cheese, grated
2 Tbs unsalted butter, melted
2 c cooked chicken, shredded or diced
2 lbs fresh broccoli, cut into bite size pieces
1/2 c Parmesan cheese
2 c Colby Jack cheese, shredded

Directions:
Melt 2 T butter in large pan. Add onion and cook until translucent. Add garlic, paprika, salt, and pepper. Saute 30 seconds. Add rice. Saute about 1 minute stirring constantly. Add water, milk, and bullion. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium low and simmer uncovered about 40 minutes, stirring often, until rice is tender.

While rice is cooking:
Crush Crackers (I use a rolling pin and a ziploc bag). Add Italian seasoning and 1/4 c Parmesan, then stir in the melted butter. Save.

Steam the broccoli (I use the steam bags, but you don't have to). This will seem like an exorbitant amount of broccoli. I store it in the 9x13 pan I'm going to bake it in.

When rice is soft:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees

To the rice mixture, add the chicken, cooked broccoli, 1/2 c Parmesan cheese, and Colby Jack cheese. Stir. Transfer to 9x13 pan.

Top with cracker crumb mixture.

Bake for 10-15 minutes until bubbly and browned.