Broccoli and Rice Casseroles

This was a great tasting weeknight meal. I made some slight changes that were suggested by other reviewers. Made jasmine rice, steamed 4 cups of fresh broccoli florets about 6-7 mins., added about 3/4 cups of milk when everything was mixed together. I served with the sliced steamed carrots that were suggested in the magazine.

Tasty and hearty! Pretty easy to make, too.

When I told my husband we were eating healthy last night he rolled his eyes and made a horrible grunting noise - you'd have thought I was torturing him! When I handed him the plate of food, without even tasting it first he said "This is HEALTHY?!?!" Then after his first bite he was in love! He's already requested that I make this once a week. Here are the changes that I made to the recipe: 1) I almost doubled the amount of broccoli to increase the portion sizes without adding a lot of extra calories, 2) I added 2 cloves of chopped garlic for more flavor (add to the onion, celery, pepper mixure sauteing for about a minute before adding the cheeses, 3) I used 3 pieces of Laughing Cow Light Swiss instead of velveeta, and finally 4) to help make the mixture a little more creamy I reserved about 1/3 cup of the milk used to cook the rice and added to the final product (before baking) which worked pretty well. Can't wait to make this again!

My husband and I loved this! I only made a few modifications (left out the celery since I didn't have any, left out the Velveeta since I could only find it in giant packages in the store and instead doubled the cream cheese). Also, I made it in a 9x9 dish instead of individual ramekins. Everything came out tender and delicious. The serving sizes are very generous. It's not a very creamy casserole, but that is what cuts down on the calories! My husband has already been asking me to make this again!

I like the flavors and textures of this meal. I slightly changed it as follows: , I made my favorite rice (Basmati) instead of doing the boil bags in milk. That seemed like a waste to me. I used fresh broccoli, and cut the ends off really close to the clusters, so my broccoli was in very small pieces. I used a red onion instead of white/yellow, 1/2 of a green bell pepper, 3 stalks of celery and olive oil to saute. For the cheeses, I used 1/3 less fat cream cheese and a combination of cheddar cheese and some other soft cheese that was left over from a party. I used precooked chicken (and made of the ramekins with out meat for my veggie daughter.) I did think it was a lot of work and dirty pots and pans for a week night meal--but the results were good. Very comforting food. I will make this again.