Shoe Box Supper #1 Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole

 Shoe Box Supper Menu #1:  Chicken  and Wild Rice Casserole

                                                  Green Beans

                                                  Fruit Cocktail

I've been making this casserole for years now, ever since a friend served it to me for supper one night.  I followed her recipe though there are many variations online.  

I know that we like this casserole, but I was curious to make it a pantry meal choice.  And then I didn't quite follow my own intent, as I'll explain to you below, because I ended combining this with "Gathering Fragments".  But first, here's the meal I served tonight:

The recipe, which I half every single time because half the recipe feeds four nicely and the full recipe makes a 9 x 13 pan, is the same one I originally was given.  I'm posting the 9 x 13 recipe for the benefit of anyone who is making this for a family.  

Chicken Wild Rice Casserole

1 cup wild rice cooked per package directions*  (see note) (this is about 2 packets of most boxed mixes)

1 can condensed cream of mushroom/chicken/celery soup

1 cup of mayonnaise****

2 ounces of diced pimento (optional)

1 cup  chopped onion***

3 cups chopped cooked chicken (2 12-ounce cans chicken, drained*)

1 4 ounce can chopped water chestnuts (optional)

1 can drained French cut green beans**

1 cup shredded cheese of your choice *****

2 ounces sliced almonds*****

* note one:  If making this with canned chicken, I'd definitely used the drained liquid as part of my cooking liquid for the rice.  Why waste broth?

**note two:  I skip adding the green beans and serve them  on the side

***note three: I prefer to cook my onion until just translucent otherwise it can be a bit crunchy in the casserole which I don't care for.  I like the water chestnut to be the crunchy factor.  It is not necessary however to use onion.  You may substitute onion powder quite easily.

****note four:  Mayonnaise is in this recipe but if you didn't want to use it you could sub in another can of condensed soup instead of using just one.

*****note five:  for a true pantry meal, you can skip the cheese.  I'd suggest you use a sleeve of crushed crackers OR dry bread crumbs on top.

Mix all ingredients except cheese and almonds and spread in a greased 9 x 13 pan.  Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until hot through then top with cheese and almonds and cook for about 8-10 minutes longer to melt cheese and crisp almonds.

I guess this recipe isn't much of a test since I know we like it really well, but it is one I thought it would be nice to share because it is 100% approved by us.   

This meal ended up being not strictly from my pantry as I'd planned but was also a compilation of gathered fragments and prepping for a second future casserole of the same.  Here's what I did:

I had on hand about 1 1/4 cups of cooked brown rice and found my canister of wild rice mix only had about 1/2 cup of uncooked wild rice.  So I cooked what I had of the wild rice and mixed it with the brown rice.  

Because I needed only half the jar of pimentos and half the can each  of water chestnuts and mushroom soup, I went ahead and cooked a whole onion (a bit over a cup) and then added half the cooked onion and the remainder of the jar and cans to a container and labelled it  'Chicken Wild Rice Casserole Mix' with instructions to add mayonnaise, chicken and cooked rice.  I put that container in the freezer.  I know we'll be eating this casserole again and why not save this combination of ingredients together for the next time I make another half recipe?

I didn't serve the dish with green beans because I discovered I had  1.5 heads of broccoli in the fridge which I need to use this week.  I only cooked the half head, which was plenty for the two of us.  

Last, I didn't use the canned fruit cocktail. I had grapes, orange slices and pineapple in the fridge and fresh apples that John isn't eating in the fruit bowl, so I made up a fruit salad of my own and served that alongside. 

My final review on this meal:  John pointed to his empty plate at the meal's end and said "That was GOOD!"  So he definitely likes this casserole.

My impression: In the past when I made this I have always had the Rice a Roni wild rice mixes which come with the herb seasoning packet inside.  And today I had a wild rice blend that I bought in bulk.  I missed the herb seasoning packet. I wish I had listened to my initial instinct to season the food a bit more.  It needed that seasoning packet.   When I make up my bag/box with this meal's ingredients I'll likely choose to add in the boxed mix of rice or at the very least look at the contents of the seasoning packet and add similar to my box.