Chicken, Broccoli and Wild Rice Casserole

Alas! The fleeting beauty of summer is starting to fade, leaving me with the feeling that I didn't do as much as I hoped this year with all the changes in my life. I am a true-blue fall lover though, and have already started to enjoy the crisp air and beautiful rust colors starting to show their leafy faces here and there. Fall is an amazing time of year, and I always feel refreshed and happy when it hits. Another reason to love fall is that the seasonal baking and cooking is so exciting.

 As I lay in bed last night, I found myself dreaming of things to bake. Sweet potato cheesecake, pumpkin bread, squash cakes, made me feel like a bit of a weirdo to be sure, dreaming about baked goods. But whatever, fall baking is the stuff of dreams. I was doing my weekly obsessive new recipe hunt,when I decided to get rid of the cook
books and to throw  a bunch of stuff in my trusty crockpot  that resembeled the vision I had in my food-rattled mind. The result was a delicous casserole that I just had to share with the whole wide world.

Chicken, Broccoli and Wild Rice Casserole

-3 chicken breasts

-1 cup uncooked wild rice, rinsed

-3 cups water

- 2 T. chicken broth

- 3 bay leaves

- 2 cups broccoli

-1 cup mushrooms, chopped

-1 medium onion, diced

-4 cloves garlic

- 2 t. garlic powder

-1 t. salt

-1/14 cup parsley

- 1 cup swiss cheese, shredded

 

Directions: In a medium crockpot, combine water, broth, chicken, onions,garlic, bay leaves, salt and garlic powder and cook over high heat 2 hours. Then add wild rice, mushrooms and broccoli and cook another 2 hours. Before serving, sprinkle cheese over top of eac bowl full. Makes 6 main dishes.

 

 

This turned out wholesome and filling, a perfect transition from summer to fall dinner.

 

My boyfriend generally never eats leftovers, but I smiled with the pride of a Croatian grand-mother when I heard the fridge creak open two times after dinner the night I made this for another "half a bowl or so".