Brown Rice Vegetable Casserole

Brown Rice Vegetable Casserole Adapted from Taste of Home Casseroles magazine
3 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups uncooked brown rice
2 cups chopped onions, divided
3 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp butter, melted
1/2 tsp dried thyme
4 cups fresh cauliflowerets
4 cups fresh broccoli florets
 2 medium sweet red peppers, julienned
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup salted cashew halves, optional
2 cups (8 oz) shredded cheddar cheese, optional

Directions:  In a greased 3 qt baking dish, combine the broth, rice, 1 cup onion, soy sauce, butter and thyme.  Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 65-70 minutes or until rice is tender. 

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, saute the cauliflower, broccoli, peppers, garlic and remaining onion in oil until crisp-tender.  spoon over rice.

Cover and bake the veggies spooned over the rice for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.  Uncover and sprinkle with cashes and cheese, if desired.  Bake 5-7 additional minutes.

Modifications:

I used quick-cooking rice instead of making rice the traditional way; thus, the 1 onion, soy sauce and Dijon mustard were left out.

Here's what I started with:

Here's how I did it:

#1 I cut up a head of broccoli, 1 onion, 1 head of cauliflower and 2 red peppers, 2 cloves of garlic and mixed them up in a bowl.

#2 I preheated the oven to 350 degrees.

#3 I put some olive oil in a skillet and then added the veggies.  I let them cook for about 8 minutes.  I also added a little bit of chicken stock after they had cooked for a bit.

#4 After cooking the brown rice per package instructions, I dumped it out in a 9x13 baking dish.

#5 I added the veggies to the baking dish and stirred it up.

#6 I spread some shredded cheddar cheese over the dish and popped it in the oven for about 8 minutes.

The Finished Product:

Review:

This was a great side dish.  I loved the combination of the veggies and the rice together.  I didn't use a whole 2 cups of cheese, and you could totally leave it out for an even healthier version, but the cheese added to the flavor especially when it was on the broccoli and cauliflower.

It was kind of funny because Scott said that he thought it would taste great with either soy sauce on top or szechuan sauce which the original recipe called for 3 Tbsps of soy sauce.  I didn't miss it, though.

We ate and ate on this.  It was a great, healthy side dish.  I served this dish with Super Short Ribs.

Hope you enjoy!
April