Western Surprise (Rice and Wiener Dish)

I invented a recipe!!!  Well, sort of.  It’s a combination of something my mom used to make called Western Surprise, and something I found online.  And it actually turned out pretty good.  Probably still  need to tweak the recipe a bit so don’t blame me if you make it and it doesn’t work!My family loves to eat rice.  After spending two years in Korea and eating rice every day, you’d think my guy would be tired of it, but no.  And with a gluten free daughter, rice dishes work well for us.
Hope you can read my writing – I just didn’t feel like retyping it!
I guess the first line should say “1 package wieners – thinly sliced” – I don’t think you can find a package of thinly sliced wieners!
The part I like best about this is the “throw it in a pot and let it do it’s thing”.  I’m so lazy in the kitchen!
And they all liked it!!!  (That orange thing looks like a piece of carrot – don’t think I put any carrots in, but you could throw in anything else you wish.  Just remember, if it’s dried, you may need to add a little more water to allow for reconstitution.)
There’s my Mac in pony tails for the first time – kicking back enjoying her lunch, dog waiting for crumbs to fall and sick sister on the couch in the background.  A typical day!
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Chicken, Rice and Broccoli Casserole

I made up a recipe – shocking, I know!!!  My family loves it – and I can prove it:  Kat, my seven-year-old picky eater, just looked over my shoulder to see what I was blogging about and said, “That stuff?  Make it again!!!”

We often have leftover cooked chicken (ya know, from those barbecued chickens at the grocery store) and I was looking for a new way to use it up.  I wanted some sort of rice recipe that I could toss everything in a pot and let the oven work its magic.  So I started searching online for recipes, but all I could find were recipes where the rice was precooked – and I didn’t want that.  So I kind of copied some ingredients from a few different recipes, and then got inventing.

Chicken, Rice and Broccoli Casserole
2 cups rice
2 cups water
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup milk
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Combine all this in your casserole dish and mix it up well.  You can adjust your rice/water amount as desired – just use equal portions of both.
For this version, I tossed in:
1 bundle of broccoli
1 onion
Cubed cooked chicken.
(I know I don’t need to mention that everything should be chopped up, and no precooking is required – except the chicken!)
Mix everything up together.  Cook it covered at 350 for 45-60 minutes.  Check the rice after about 45 minutes to see if it’s cooked.  If your rice is done and the mixture is too runny, cook it for a bit longer without the lid.  Sprinkle cheese on at the end if you desire and cook until it’s melted.
In my clean-out-the-fridge version, I threw in leftover cooked vegetables, raw cauliflower, and even leftover smoked pork picnic instead of chicken – that was good!  Can’t wait til I have zucchini around to throw in, just to annoy my family!
I’ve made it a few times now and it’s always good.  The first time I put it on the table, it got more than a few skeptical, curious, turned-up-noses looks from my youngest kids.  So I was pleasantly surprised to hear Kat exclaim in a shocked voice, “This doesn’t taste bad at all!”
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