Chicken & Veggie Summer Casserole

Tired of a plain jane chicken and broccoli casserole? Then this twist recipe is calling your name!

A few things I did in this recipe to lighten it up was use cauliflower rice. However, we all know if you buy one pack it is not enough to feed 4, and I thought mixing it with the rice would help be more filling (mainly for my husband, lol) but you can just add more cauliflower rice for sure!

I also love to marinade my chicken and then just to leave more space on the oven I air fry it but you can bake it if you want.

Recipe Below:

Servings: 4

Time cook: 6+ hour chicken marinade, 1 hour cook time

Ingredients

• The Chicken

  • 1.3 lb of chicken breasts, cut into tenders

  • 1/2 cup of olive oil

  • Steak seasoning

  • few dashes of dried dill

• The Casserole

  • 1 head of broccoli, steamed and florets cut

  • 3 variety of zucchini and yellow squash, chopped

  • 5 cloves of garlic, minced

  • 1/2 onion, chopped

  • few dashes of tarragon

  • few dashes of oregano

  • few dashes of dried dill

  • Pepper to taste

  • few dashes of olive oil

  • 2 tablespoons of plant based butter

  • Parsley, to garnish

• The Cheese Sauce

  • 8 oz of velveeta cheese

  • 1/4 cup of evaporated milk

• The Rice

  • 1 bag of cauliflower rice, I used this brand from thrive

  • About 1/2 cup of non-cooked basmati rice

  • 1/2 cup of chicken broth

  • 1/3 cup of water

  • few dashes of oregano

  • few dashes of parsley

  • few dashes of tarragon

  • 8oz can of organic diced tomatoes, washed and drained

  • 2 tablespoons of butter

  • pepper to taste

Directions: In a bag, add the chicken, olive oil and seasonings. Mix well together and marinade for minimum 6 hours, preferred overnight. Once you are ready to start cooking the casserole oull out the chicken and set it aside.

In a large skillet add the olive oil and chopped onion. Cook for about 5 minutes on medium heat and add the garlic. While this is cooking steam your broccoli. Let the onion and garlic cook for about another 10 minutes. while they are cooking prep you air fryer for the chicken to 390°F for 20 minutes and then start to cook your rice. Once you start cooking the rice add all the other ingredients to the skillet.

For the rice add everything except the butter and tomatoes. Cook rice until fluffy then add the butter and tomatoes.

While everything is cooking, cook the cauliflower rice and make the cheese sauce. Once those are done set aside.

Pre-heat oven to 375°F. and pull out your casserole dish. Coat with olive oil and add the rice mixture down first. Then add the mixed veggies, chicken on top. Slowly pour the cheese over the chicken and veggies and cook for about 20 minutes until cheese is bubbly.

Garnish with parsley and enjoy!