Broccoli Rice Casserole or Else

Hey, my most beloved blog community! I TOTALLY LOVE THANKSGIVING WEEK. Anybody else? It’s big on celebration and gratitude and small on peripheral stress. (i.e. gift-hunting, buying, wrapping) I dearly love Christmas, too, because of God’s incomparable gift to us in Christ Jesus but, man oh man, do I ever have a ton to do before then. SO, let’s stick to right now. I thought it would be fun and easy to share our biggest crowd-pleaser dishes over the next 24-hours. I started to wait until tomorrow but, by then, it’s almost too late to go to the grocery store for the extra ingredients. Let’s try to stick to recipes on the simple side so that we can fit some in at the last minute.

For my family, next to cornbread dressing and mashed potatoes and gravy, their must-have-on-that-table-or-else dish is the retro (circa 70′s) version of broccoli rice casserole. It’s the one thing both my daughters will ask me about in advance because, if I’m not going to make it, they’ll need to prepare themselves so they don’t go into shock and awe in front of the relatives.

Here is the recipe which I have to double into a Moore-der. Of course, a lot of you already have it or have moved on away from it but we also have lots of young cooks among us here in our blog community. You guys might want to throw this together and watch it disappear. It’s not sophisticated or trendy, but, Girlfriends, it is comfort food at its finest.

Broccoli-Rice Casserole:

1/4 cup of butter

1 medium onion, chopped

10 ounces of chopped broccoli (I always get the frozen version)

1 can of Cream of Mushroom soup

8 ounces of Cheese Whiz

2 cups cooked white rice

1 8-ounce jar of sliced mushrooms, drained

1 8-ounce can of water chestnuts, drained and sliced (You’ll usually find this in the section for Asian foods in your grocery store)

Melt the butter in a saucepan then add the chopped onion and saute it. Add the broccoli and cook it until tender. Usually five minutes is sufficient if it’s chopped in small enough pieces. You don’t want small trees in this dish but you also don’t want the broccoli to totally disintegrate. Add soup and Cheese Whiz and stir until smooth then stir all of this into your cooked rice. Add the mushrooms and water chestnuts. Pour into a prepared (buttered or Pam-sprayed) casserole dish then bake at 350 degrees for half an hour or until it is heated through and through and bubbly on the edges.

And, for whatever insane reason, many years ago my sister, Gay, and I started eating it with a tablespoon of our mom’s homemade blue cheese dressing right to the side of it. That will put you right over the edge so don’t try it the first year. Grin.

Oh, mercy. Surely you guys know how much I love you. The wonderful thing about being a community of women is that our relationship has all sorts of dimensions to it. We’re committed to women’s ministry around here and let’s face it. There are holiday occasions when food is your family’s favorite ministry.

I am so thankful for you guys. I wouldn’t trade you for anything. Let’s have a little 1 Peter 4:9 this week, Sisters! Let’s show hospitality without complaining! And that means even to our husbands under our breath. No kitchen martyrs. Happy attitudes make for happy holidays. Let’s not get ourselves all prepared for offenses. Overlook them and choose joy. Maybe even hilarity.

Happy Thanksgiving, Darlings. I’ll try to hop on here later in the week.