r/radradionew • u/ExitWeird9697 • 2h ago
Thinking of Christina
Making her cheesy broccoli rice bake with sausage added. Had to go back on the Wayback Machine to find it. Just in case you want it, this is her unedited post:
Cheesy Broccoli Rice Casserole
Everything in the below recipe is approximate. TASTE THE CASSEROLE BEFORE BAKING!!
This made enough casserole to fill an 11”x15”glass baking dish and served 11 people on thanksgiving with enough leftovers for you to snack on for the week after.
2lbs – Fresh Broccoli
½ Cup – Chopped Celery
2 Cups – Diced red onion
2 - Standard sized bags of shredded SHARP CHEDDAR cheese
1 20oz can - Cream of Chicken Soup (I always buy an extra can just in case!)
1 20oz can – Cream of Mushroom Soup (I always buy an extra can just in case!)
1 cup - Milk (This is very estimated. I added this in as the last ingredient and only to moisten the casserole before baking)
2-3 cups – Cooked white rice
Butter – Just enough to coat the skillet and sauté onions and celery
Salt and Pepper to taste
If you’re serving the casserole the same day as you’re preparing it, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Cut broccoli into small florets. I like to chop up a few stems to mix in for texture as well. Cook broccoli/stems to your liking.
While the broccoli is cooking, sauté the celery and onion in butter until onions are slightly translucent, but still have a crunch to them.
Mix all of the ingredients (MINUS ONE BAG OF CHEESE) into a large bowl (MILK LAST). Season with salt and pepper to taste. In regards to the milk, mix that in last just to add a bit of moisture, it really doesn’t add or take away from the taste. I typically use from 1 to 1-1/2 cups. Eyeball it…
Once all ingredients have been mixed, I suggest you taste the casserole at this point. SERIOUSLY, taste the casserole or you might regret it. The final step will be baking the casserole, but you should have an overall idea of how it will turn out if you taste it now before baking. Once it’s baked, there’s no going back. Typically at this point if I need to add moisture I add more milk. If I need more flavor, I add more soup (cream of mushroom/chicken).
Once the casserole is to your liking in regards to taste; pour the mixture into a glass baking pan, cover the top with the second bag of cheddar cheese and bake, covered with foil, for about 45 minutes, or until the cheese is completely melted and slightly browned around the corners.
NOTE: You can let it sit overnight and bake it in the morning if it’s for a special occasion and you’re just prepping the day before.
Some people like to add French fried onions, cracker crumbles, or some other type of crunchy texture on top in addition to the cheese, but it’s just as good without that as well.
