Canless Chicken and Rice Casserole

I came up with this meal by accident when I was kind of following a recipe for Turkey Tetrazzini. But not really. I made my modified version the other night, P ate two servings, asked for it for lunch the next day and today asked to take it for lunch tomorrow! J and I love it too of course; we used to enjoy those chicken and rice casseroles, ya know, the ones you make with canned cream of ______ soups but then I read the ingredients of the can and was immediately turned off (MSG for example), that and cans are lined with BPA. Yuck. So we're really excited to have a good casserole recipe that we CAN eat!

Canless Chicken and Rice Casserole

2C dry brown rice - cooked (will make a lot more than 2C, use it all!)
1T unsalted butter
2-3T all-purpose flour - used rice flour since we're GF right now
1 1/2- 1 3/4 cups of milk
2 cups chicken broth
3 cups coarsely chopped cooked turkey (or chicken)
1 cup peas + steamed + frozen broccoli too! As much as you want!
2/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan 1/3 cup shredded Swiss cheese - I don't measure though... and used cheddar
Salt and Pepper

~ In a large, heavy saucepan, melt 1/4 cup of butter. Stir in the flour, and cook the mixture over low heat, stirring, for 3 minutes. 

~  Into the saucepan with the butter and flour, slowly whisk in the milk and broth. Bring to a simmer and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, for about 5 to 8 minutes.

~ Add frozen vegetables and simmer until cooked

~ Add any leftover steamed veggies you're using, grated cheese, turkey/chicken and brown rice

~ Mix it all up, cook until heated through and eat!

And the absolute best part? if you do it this way you only need one big pot for it all! Well, and the rice cooker if you want to count that too. I love having less dishes to pre-wash!