Germinated Rice / Organic Chicken Broccoli Casserole Recipe

This simple Organic Chicken Broccoli Casserole Recipe post has turned into much more as I got going. I ended up learning a lot about germinated brown rice and how much healthier it is for us than regular brown rice…read on…

As much as I love this recipe, I don’t make it much because the kids aren’t big on broccoli…hopefully someday! The sauce is so delicious with a little bit of lemon for a twist. Bonus: it’s a fairly fast and easy recipe to throw together, too.

(Wow, this picture is not so good…it’s obvious I’m not a photographer, eh?)

ORGANIC CHICKEN BROCCOLI CASSEROLE RECIPE FROM MY SISTER, JAN

• Preheat oven to 375*
• Butter a 9×13 glass or stainless steel baking dish
• Cut 1 bunch of organic broccoli (preferably local) into bite sized pieces and lightly steam (it will cook more in the oven), then place in baking dish
• Update: You could also add some steamed carrots
  
• Next place either bone-in chicken breasts, boneless breasts, or hunks of chicken around the top (uncooked, and preferably from a local farm with chickens out on pasture and without growth hormones or antibiotics)
• Mix together and spoon over the top: 2 cans organic cream of chicken soup (or 1 can cream of chicken and one can cream of mushroom – I like “Health Valley” brand – be sure to use organic for this part of the recipe – other canned soups have MSG. You could also make these creamed soup alternatives.), 2 T. juice from an organic lemon (+more lemon zest if you like a more lemony flavor), 1/2 t. sea salt, and 1/2 c. store-bought or homemade mayo. (I’m going to try and make homemade soon. UPDATE:  here’s my easy homemade mayo recipe!)
  

Bake 30 minutes, and then sprinkle a cup or more of grated cheddar and/or colby cheese all over the top along with 1/2 c. organic breadcrumbs (mixed with 3-4 T. melted butter, 1/2 t. basil or other seasoning, and 1/2 t. sea salt). Bake another 10 minutes or so until cheese is melted.

Serve it with…

This makes plenty of tasty sauce, so you can serve it over a baked potato, brown rice, or some whole wheat or brown rice noodles. It’s also good by itself for a low carb meal. (If you’re watching your carbs, you may want to use less breadcrumbs.)

***Today I made it with 1 1/2 c. Japanese germinated brown rice, cooked in 2 c. homemade chicken stock I had in the freezer, which made 3 c. rice cooked (according to package directions + 1t. sea salt). Then I mixed it in with the chicken and broccoli a little before putting the sauce over the top, and it was very good – just the rice plain was delicious after it cooked in that flavorful, nutritious stock!

I first heard of germinated brown rice when Lynn Cameron mentioned it in a comment at her guest interview post. Here’s where you can buy germinated brown rice – if you put in this number in the “promo code” box, you can get 4% off your first order of $48 or more: 2866957. (4% isn’t a lot, but it’s better than nothing.)

I didn’t know a lot about germinated rice, so I Googled it and found this very informative post about sprouted brown rice (another name for it).

Read an excerpt:

In Japan there has recently been renewed interest in sprouted rice thanks to a number of recent scientific studies done on gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA), a naturally occurring amino acid created during the germination process. The consumption of GABA is credited with important health benefits that range from lowering cholesterol and blood pressure, boosting the immune system, improving sleep, and inhibition of cancer cells.

The whole post was very interesting, so check it out at Becky’s “Radish Boy” blog, where she shares her journey in finding healthy options for her son who is highly allergic to many foods.

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