Chicken & Black Bean Casserole

I'll be upfront - this is NOT a One Pot Wonder! Although it ends up in one pot, I used 1 pot for the rice, 1 frying pan for the chicken, 1 frying pan for sauteing onions & mushrooms, several cutting boards and a large mixing bowl. The end result was it was worth it!

Deciding it was going to be a chicken night, I wanted to pair that with zucchini as that vegetable can be found in abundance in our garden (as you may remember from the previous post). I started perusing the web and came up with this wonderful recipe. The Chicken & Black Bean Casserole recipe was found at Six Sisters' Stuff: Healthy Meals. (They found it at AllRecipes...check out the reviews it got!)

I didn't follow the recipe exactly: I omitted the carrots (because I wasn't paying attention), I substituted crushed red pepper flakes for the chile peppers (as Dave doesn't like overly spicy); changed rice to 1 cup measurement, and didn't use the cayenne pepper. Variations could include: using summer squash too, adding tomatoes, leaving out the chicken for a vegetarian meal, using white rice, leaving out the beans (but that makes!)adding corn, etc.)

NEW to One Dish Dining: I'm adding a 'rating scale' to each post...I'll call it the Roll-Rater (as in Car-ROLL). A rating of "2" would indicate great meal as it means that someone wanted 2nds...a rating of "1" means we liked it, but not enough to make again! Find the Roll-Rater at the end of this post!

Chicken & Black Bean Casserole:

Ingredients:

1/3 cup brown rice 1 cup vegetable broth 1 tablespoon olive oil 1/3 cup diced onion 1 medium zucchini, thinly sliced 2 cooked skinless boneless chicken breast halves, chopped 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms

1/2 teaspoon cumin salt to taste ground cayenne pepper to taste 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained 1 (4 ounce) can diced green chile peppers, drained 1/3 cup shredded carrots 2 cups shredded Swiss cheese

Directions:

1.	Mix the rice and vegetable broth in a pot, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 45 minutes, or until rice is tender.
2.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a large casserole dish.
3.	Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat, and cook the onion until tender. Mix in the zucchini, chicken, and mushrooms. Season with cumin, salt, and ground cayenne pepper. Cook and stir until zucchini is lightly browned and chicken is heated through.
4.	In large bowl, mix the cooked rice, onion, zucchini, chicken, mushrooms, beans, chiles, carrots, and 1/2 the Swiss cheese. Transfer to the prepared casserole dish, and sprinkle with remaining cheese.
5.	Cover casserole loosely with foil, and bake 30 minutes in the preheated oven. Uncover, and continue baking 10 minutes, or until bubbly and lightly browned.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2012 Allrecipes.com

Recipe Facts:
Yield: 8 Servings
Calories: 337
Total Fat: 21g
Cholesterol: 77 mg

Prep Time: 20 minutes Cook time: 1 hour (due to rice)

Even though there were more pans than I desire (as you know I don't have a dishwasher), the meal was a success as the Roll-Rater shows. Hoping you'll give it a try.


ROLL-RATER: