I've received a few requests to blog about my cooking because if you follow me on Instagram, you know I cook quite often. I've done this before, but several years ago. So in my blog revival efforts, let's do it some more!
This is one of my go-to recipes. I make this often. Often enough to where I don't need to follow a recipe. Which is problematic when I want to share the recipe with you. So let me warn you ahead of time: This will probably be one of the worst recipes you read because I don't measure anything (This is why I don't bake!), and because it's so flexible, you can interchange a lot of the ingredients. Look at the pictures to get a rough idea of how much ingredients I used today, and maybe use some of my alternative ingredient suggestions.
Okay, first and foremost. Turn on some music. I recommend Lady Gaga's latest album - it's really good!
Cook your rice in your rice cooker. White rice. Don't be a hippie. Get that brown rice away from me.
I call this broccoli cheese rice casserole, however, it really should be called veggie cheese rice casserole because it has TONS of veggies, and you can really put whatever veggies you want! Don't be limited to what I used today.
Next, chop mushrooms, onions, celery, and garlic. Sometimes I buy broccoli and chop it up, but today I bought pre-chopped broccoli and cauliflower in a bag because I felt lazy. If you're wondering what the leafy looking veggie next to the chopped celery is, it's celery leaves! Like I said, you can throw whatever veggies you have on hand. Bell pepper, cabbage, carrots, corn, etc. Go nuts! Except for all the butter and cheese, this is a very healthy dish!
(Also pictured: frozen peas, canola oil, butter. Not pictured: milk and flour.)
Shred some cheese. Or buy pre-shredded cheese. I recommend cheddar. I also enjoy gouda or gruyere. I used Trader Joe's New Zealand grass fed sharp cheddar because sometimes I like to pretend I'm bougie.
*Note: The original recipe I adapted this recipe from called for - I kid you not - an entire jar of Cheese Whiz. True story.
Then take out your seasonings. Here's my number one cooking tip: garlic salt and pepper. If you only use two seasonings for the rest of you life, use garlic salt and pepper! But I also used crushed red pepper, thyme, and garlic powder (because the chopped fresh garlic and the garlic salt clearly isn't enough garlic.)
Heat your oil in a large pan/pot/wok on medium high and throw in all your veggies. You're going to be mixing a lot of ingredients together, so make sure your pan/pot/wok is large enough to fit ALL the ingredients. I used Marie Antoinette, my trusty Le Creuset.
*Note: for you carnivores, you can buy a rotisserie chicken, shred it up, and throw the meat in. That's what I used to do with this dish before I went flexitarian.
Once the veggies are tender (but not limp and soggy) throw in your seasonings. I advise going light on the garlic salt because we'll be adding a lot of cheese later! Also, put in your frozen peas now too.
*Note: Here is how I can get away with not measuring. I taste it! Taste the veggies at this point. If it's not seasoned enough, add more seasonings. If it's too salty, well you screwed it up! What'd I tell you? Go light on the garlic salt!
Your rice should be ready by now. If not, wait till it's ready.
Throw in your rice. God I love rice. I feel like elbow macaroni might work well in this dish too, but I've never tried it. If you're feeling adventurous, try it out and let me know how it goes! Mix it all up, and turn your heat down to low.
Okay, now we do the thing that makes me feel like a real cook! We make our cheese sauce.
I learned how to do this from Giada De Laurentiis. In a small saucepan on low heat, melt butter.
Put in flour. Stir constantly with a whisk. Do not let it burn!
More butter. (And possibly more flour, depending on the consistency.) You're going for a creamy, semi-pasty texture.
When your butter/flour mixture gets pretty thick and pasty (ew, I hate that word!) add your milk!
When your mixture is nice and creamy, add your cheese!
*Note: If your mixture is too pasty, add more milk; if your mixture is too liquidy, add more flour. I wish I could tell you with words exactly how much butter, flour, milk, and cheese to use to make the perfect cheese sauce, but to be honest, I don't know myself. It's really a trial and error game. It took me a few tries to finally get it right, and I never get it exactly right the first time. I always have to add more flour or more milk.
The cheese will melt and you'll have lovely creamy cheesy sauce, which you will pour over your veggie rice mixture! (This is how you make mac and cheese by the way! Instead of pouring over veggie mixture, pour over pasta!)
Yeah! Get it all in there!
Mix it up! I usually taste it again right about now. If it's over seasoned at
this point, there's really nothing you can do about it. Just kidding.
Add more rice. That will probably help. If your pot is oven friendly, smash the mixture down - not too hard! - so it's nice and evenly distributed. If not, transfer the mixture into a casserole dish.
At this point, you have two choices. Option one is to cover it, throw it in the fridge, and save it for later. That's what I did today. I made this around 2:00 in the afternoon, so I'll pull it out when it's dinnertime. Option two is to cook it now. If you choose to cook it now, you should have preheated your oven around the same time you started your rice. I probably should have mentioned that earlier.
Cover, and put in oven. 350 Degrees for 20-30 oughta do it! I usually uncover it for the last 10 minutes to get a kind of crispiness on the top.
Since I am cooking this later, I do not have a picture of the final product. But it looks pretty much like that last picture.
There you have it! I hope that wasn't too confusing of a recipe to follow! And I hope my lack of measurements doesn't deter anyone from trying to make it themselves. I would love for you to give it a whirl! It's super simple, you guys, and very yummy! The cheese sauce is the hardest part, and like I mentioned earlier, you can always use a jar of Cheese Whiz if you think the cheese sauce is too advanced for you!
If you would like to print out this recipe, please copy and paste the below into a Word document because I don't know how to make the cute little "print" icon and have a perfect 1-page document pop up!
BROCCOLI CHEESE RICE CASSEROLE
Ingredients:
Oil
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Celery
Onion
Mushrooms
Garlic
Frozen peas
Garlic salt
Pepper
Crushed red pepper
Dried thyme
Garlic powder
Cooked rice
Butter
Flour
Milk
Shredded cheese
Directions:
1. Turn on cooking music.
2. Start rice in the rice cooker.
3. Pre-heat oven to 350 Degrees.
4. Chop the broccoli, cauliflower, celery, onion, mushrooms, garlic.
5. Shred the cheese.
6. Heat oil in pan over medium high heat. Make sure you use a pan large enough for all your ingredients. Put in broccoli, cauliflower, celery, onion, mushrooms, garlic. Cook until tender, but not soggy. Add frozen peas.
7. Add seasoning: garlic salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, dried thyme, garlic powder. Taste to make sure you did not screw it up.
8. Add cooked rice. Mix well, turn heat to low. Set aside.
In a small saucepan over low heat, make your cheese sauce.
9. Melt butter. Add flour. Stir constantly with a whisk until you get a thick, semi-pasty mixture.
10. Add milk. Stir constantly until you get a creamy mixture.
11. Add cheese. Stir constantly until you get a creamy, cheesy mixture. If mixture is too thick, add more milk. If it is too runny, add more flour.
12. Pour cheese sauce over the veggie rice mixture. Mix well. Taste to make sure you did not screw it up.
13. Transfer mixture into a casserole dish.
14. Cover and cook in oven for 20-30 minutes. For the last 10 minutes, remove cover.
15. Serve hot!
16. Kiss a loved one.
17: Do a little dance!
YAY!
This is one of my go-to recipes. I make this often. Often enough to where I don't need to follow a recipe. Which is problematic when I want to share the recipe with you. So let me warn you ahead of time: This will probably be one of the worst recipes you read because I don't measure anything (This is why I don't bake!), and because it's so flexible, you can interchange a lot of the ingredients. Look at the pictures to get a rough idea of how much ingredients I used today, and maybe use some of my alternative ingredient suggestions.
Okay, first and foremost. Turn on some music. I recommend Lady Gaga's latest album - it's really good!
Cook your rice in your rice cooker. White rice. Don't be a hippie. Get that brown rice away from me.
I call this broccoli cheese rice casserole, however, it really should be called veggie cheese rice casserole because it has TONS of veggies, and you can really put whatever veggies you want! Don't be limited to what I used today.
(Also pictured: frozen peas, canola oil, butter. Not pictured: milk and flour.)
Shred some cheese. Or buy pre-shredded cheese. I recommend cheddar. I also enjoy gouda or gruyere. I used Trader Joe's New Zealand grass fed sharp cheddar because sometimes I like to pretend I'm bougie.
*Note: The original recipe I adapted this recipe from called for - I kid you not - an entire jar of Cheese Whiz. True story.
*Note: for you carnivores, you can buy a rotisserie chicken, shred it up, and throw the meat in. That's what I used to do with this dish before I went flexitarian.
*Note: Here is how I can get away with not measuring. I taste it! Taste the veggies at this point. If it's not seasoned enough, add more seasonings. If it's too salty, well you screwed it up! What'd I tell you? Go light on the garlic salt!
Okay, now we do the thing that makes me feel like a real cook! We make our cheese sauce.
*Note: If your mixture is too pasty, add more milk; if your mixture is too liquidy, add more flour. I wish I could tell you with words exactly how much butter, flour, milk, and cheese to use to make the perfect cheese sauce, but to be honest, I don't know myself. It's really a trial and error game. It took me a few tries to finally get it right, and I never get it exactly right the first time. I always have to add more flour or more milk.
At this point, you have two choices. Option one is to cover it, throw it in the fridge, and save it for later. That's what I did today. I made this around 2:00 in the afternoon, so I'll pull it out when it's dinnertime. Option two is to cook it now. If you choose to cook it now, you should have preheated your oven around the same time you started your rice. I probably should have mentioned that earlier.
Cover, and put in oven. 350 Degrees for 20-30 oughta do it! I usually uncover it for the last 10 minutes to get a kind of crispiness on the top.
Since I am cooking this later, I do not have a picture of the final product. But it looks pretty much like that last picture.
There you have it! I hope that wasn't too confusing of a recipe to follow! And I hope my lack of measurements doesn't deter anyone from trying to make it themselves. I would love for you to give it a whirl! It's super simple, you guys, and very yummy! The cheese sauce is the hardest part, and like I mentioned earlier, you can always use a jar of Cheese Whiz if you think the cheese sauce is too advanced for you!
If you would like to print out this recipe, please copy and paste the below into a Word document because I don't know how to make the cute little "print" icon and have a perfect 1-page document pop up!
BROCCOLI CHEESE RICE CASSEROLE
Ingredients:
Oil
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Celery
Onion
Mushrooms
Garlic
Frozen peas
Garlic salt
Pepper
Crushed red pepper
Dried thyme
Garlic powder
Cooked rice
Butter
Flour
Milk
Shredded cheese
Directions:
1. Turn on cooking music.
2. Start rice in the rice cooker.
3. Pre-heat oven to 350 Degrees.
4. Chop the broccoli, cauliflower, celery, onion, mushrooms, garlic.
5. Shred the cheese.
6. Heat oil in pan over medium high heat. Make sure you use a pan large enough for all your ingredients. Put in broccoli, cauliflower, celery, onion, mushrooms, garlic. Cook until tender, but not soggy. Add frozen peas.
7. Add seasoning: garlic salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, dried thyme, garlic powder. Taste to make sure you did not screw it up.
8. Add cooked rice. Mix well, turn heat to low. Set aside.
In a small saucepan over low heat, make your cheese sauce.
9. Melt butter. Add flour. Stir constantly with a whisk until you get a thick, semi-pasty mixture.
10. Add milk. Stir constantly until you get a creamy mixture.
11. Add cheese. Stir constantly until you get a creamy, cheesy mixture. If mixture is too thick, add more milk. If it is too runny, add more flour.
12. Pour cheese sauce over the veggie rice mixture. Mix well. Taste to make sure you did not screw it up.
13. Transfer mixture into a casserole dish.
14. Cover and cook in oven for 20-30 minutes. For the last 10 minutes, remove cover.
15. Serve hot!
16. Kiss a loved one.
17: Do a little dance!
YAY!
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