Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Clean Eating Healthy Cheesy Chicken and Brown Rice Bake (OAMC)

Makes 6 servings
I love this recipe because it feels like comfort food but it's totally not sinful. Also, it’s a complete meal all in one dish; protein, whole grain, and green veggie. It makes me very happy when I don’t have to cook side dishes :) It makes my kids very happy when their dinner involves cheese.

This dish freezes really well before or after you cook it. If I have a bunch of brown rice and cooked chicken, I’ll throw a few together, make one for dinner, and freeze the others for another night.



Ingredients:
  • 2 cups cooked brown rice (or other whole grain)
  • 1 ½ cups shredded reduced fat Cheddar cheese, divided (NOT fat free… unless you like the sensation of eating plastic)
  • 1 ½ cups cooked, chopped chicken breast (I use poached chicken like THIS)
  • ½ cup cottage cheese or plain greek yogurt
  • ½ cup finely chopped onion
  • 1/3 cup egg whites
  • 1 cup chopped broccoli
  • 1 tbsp chopped green chilis, drained (optional)
  • ¼ cup finely chopped cilantro (optional)
ONE: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine rice, 1 cup cheese, chicken, cottage cheese/yogurt, onion, egg whites, green chilis, and cilantro in a large bowl; Mix well.


TWO: Spray an 8x8inch glass baking dish with cooking spray and dump the rice mixture in. Top with the remaining ½ cup of cheese.


THREE: Bake 45 to 50 minutes until the cheese on top is melted and bubbly.


Freeze leftovers in individual portions using the flash freeze method to feed your freezer stash.

MAKE AHEAD (OAMC) METHOD:
Assemble as directed above in a disposable baking pan but do not bake. Freeze the entire pan. On cooking day, defrost overnight in the fridge and bake 60-70 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven.

NUTRITION INFO:

Per Serving - 280 Calories (75 Calories from Fat), 8g Total Fat, 4g Saturated Fat, 48mg Cholesterol, 317mg Sodium, 27g Carbohydrates, 2g Dietary Fiber, 1g Sugar, 25g Protein, 11% DV Vitamin A, 24% DV Vitamin C, 29% DV Calcium, 6% DV Iron

:)

12 comments:

  1. OMG Briony....I just made this and it looked exactly like the picture woohoo....i've never chopped an onion b4 and i went on Youtube and watched Gordon Ramsey do it hahahahaha......its in the oven now....can't wait for it to get out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  2. My mom, sister and I all live in Pensacola and are cooking with each other weekly and made this last Tuesday. It was DEVOURED by Wednesday by me and my husband/kids and I made it again already. LOVED it. I'm so excited to see you live here as well and to start coming to your blog :)

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  3. I had some leftover grilled chicken and wanted to use it up with some brown rice. VERY new to clean eating and this was something that looked simple and sounded like it would go over well with all us processed food eating people here. SO excited to make this! Thanks for the recipe.

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    1. Yay! I hope you like it! Since you are so new to clean eating you might find you need to add a little salt to taste the first few times you make it. But as your pallet gets used to the flavors of real foods instead of processed foods you will be reaching for the salt shaker less and less :)

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  4. Do you cook the brocolli before?

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  5. I honestly don't know how there aren't thousands of comments on your site every day! Incredible recipes that I'm sharing with all my friends- giving you credit and links of course! Hope that's ok!!

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    1. Thank you, Kelley! That mean a lot to me :) and I am always on the lookout for new things to try so email me any suggestions you have.
      ~Bri

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  6. How much is a serving?

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    1. Sorry...just saw that it makes 6 servings. Great recipe! Thanks

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  7. I found this on Pinterest and we loved it! Thank you for the recipe. I've adapted it to our taste and blogged about it as well! Always giving credit where it's due, of course! http://athomeorganic.com/2014/03/12/broccoli-and-brown-rice-casserole/

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  8. This is a fantastic creamy recipe...I made it tonight using farro, fresh oregano and rosemary from the garden instead of the cilantro option.

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