Tasty Tuesday {Chicken Wild Rice Casserole }

Yay for my second Tasty Tuesday recipe day!  If you missed out on last week's Tasty Tuesday {and the very first one ever}, you can see it here.

This week, I want to share with you a family favorite that I just discovered a few weeks ago.  This recipe has been in my book of recipes the entire time.  It's been hiding among two other chicken casseroles, and I hated it when my Mom made it!  Mainly because it has water chestnuts in it, and I HATE those things!  So when you're a 25 year old adult with your own pantry and money to buy groceries, you can adjust the recipe to meet your specifications.  Voila...no water chestnuts!  So if you like them, put them in.  If not, be like me and leave them out!  Yum!

Here goes!

I was in a big hurry when making this recipe and didn't exactly get all of the photos that I wanted, but you'll still get the idea.  No cast of characters photo.  Sad.

Before you do anything, you need to have approximately 2 1/2 cups of chopped chicken.  So my advice {and what I did} is to boil some water, turn it down to let it simmer and add in 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts chopped up.  I let that simmer for a little bit and then I let it stand in the pot until I'm ready to use it.  So like a few hours!  Haha.  Or as much time as you have.

Start out by preheating your oven to 350 degrees.  You are about to make bread crumbs.  Start out with some older bread.  All we had was wheat bread.  Tear it up into small pieces and lay on a cookie sheet.  You want to do enough to cover a casserole dish.

Drizzle the bread crumbs with olive oil and put them in the oven until they are toasty and golden brown!

Next up, get two stalks of celery.  Now, I'm not a celery fan, but this recipe is just MISSING something without it.  So go ahead, buy it and chop it up real fine if you don't like it.  Lucky for me, we got this nifty chopper for a wedding present and it makes the job so quick!

Next, grab an onion and peel away all of it's top layer.  Then slice it up and chop it too.  Handy, dandy chopper or not, you can still get it pretty fine.

Next for the no photo part.  Take both the celery, onion, and 2 tablespoons of butter and put it in a skillet.  Let simmer for about 10 minutes in the pan.   Now at this point, if you want to add the water chestnuts, be my guest.  I don't like them, and won't be adding them to mine.  But they need to simmer with the onions and celery if you want to throw them in.

Now you need to prepare the wild rice.  Make sure you buy the fast cook recipe, and I love Uncle Ben's wild rice!  Get the original recipe and not the kind with crazy things added in.

Prepare the wild rice as the box specifies.  Again, make sure it's fast cook rice.

Next add, 1 can of cream of mushroom soup and 1 1/2 cups of grated cheddar cheese.  Again, you can grate your own. I'm sure it's better then the pre grated kind, but it's SO much easier.  So I buy mine already grated.

After that, you need to add a 1/2 teaspoon of salt and a 1/2 teaspoon of pepper.

To that mixture, add 1/2 cup of milk. 

Stir it up and combine it really well.  Then add in 8 ounces of sour cream.  It's okay, you can use the fat free kind!

Add in that yummy celery and onion that you sauteed.  Yummy!

Now, it's time to add in the chicken.  Again, I was in a hurry.  So rather then chop up my chicken, I just sent it through the mighty handy dandy chopper I showed you at the beginning.  Which resulted in it still being great!  But it definitely was chopped up really well.  I would suggest not chopping it up quite as much.  Unless, like me, you are in an incredible hurry to get dinner on the table!

Add in that yummy wild rice that you already prepared. And stir it up!

Transfer it to a casserole pan, add on the bread crumbs that you made, and pop it in the oven for 30 minutes to heat it all up!

Don't forget to set your cute magnetic timer to 30 minutes so you won't forget!

After 30 minutes has passed, add the 1/2 cup of cheddar that you set aside in the beginning and put it back in for 5 more minutes or until it's all melted!

And here it is all finished.

So obviously this isn't the healthiest recipe in the world, but it's SO good!  And I love it!  And if you pair it with green beans, that makes it healthy, right?  I sure hope so because I just ate the leftovers for dinner tonight! :)

Note to self...I should really learn how to clean the edges of my plates!  Hope you enjoy it and try to make it soon!

Now, here's the recipe. {yes, I took a photo of it}.  Notice that I HALVED this recipe because David and I don't need that much food.  So if you want to make the original amount, follow what is below. Otherwise half it yourself like I did!

And if you're interested, apparently this freezes wonderfully!  Just read about it at the bottom of the directions!