Chicken and wild rice recipe, It's a Keeper!

I came across this recipe on pinterest and thought this would be good to try, it has everything my hubby likes and since he is a picky eater and it came from a site called "Picky Palate" well, I figured this should work!

It is a little labor intensive, but if you want to shorten the cooking time by using pre-made items, I will give you the fast version too....I can see this coming together in 20 minutes or less!

Personally, I prefer the homemade everything method as food just tastes better from scratch, I am lucky enough to be able to leave work early and spend lots of time in the kitchen, yes, I am very lucky!

So here we go for a Cheesy Chicken and Wild rice casserole....it was fabulous!

3 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 of an onion diced fine (recipe calls for a whole one, I can't do that much onion)
3 stalks celery diced
3 carrots diced
3 cloves garlic minced
2 cups diced cooked chicken
2 cups white rice cooked
2 cups wild rice cooked
salt and pepper

Cheese sauce:
4 tablespoons butter
1/4 flour
salt and pepper
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups cheddar cheese (keep a little for sprinkling on top of casserole)

I roasted my own whole chicken first, let it cool down, then cut up 2 cups of meat from it.
While the chicken cooked I made the rice's.

Preheat oven to 350*
Heat the olive oil in a pan and saute the carrots, celery and onion for about 10 minutes, then add garlic, cook a couple minutes more. Then add chicken, rice's, salt and pepper. Mix well and pour into a casserole dish, 9x13 size.

Now the best part, making the cheese sauce, this was so glorious and beautiful, I was shocked I was able to pull this off, I am horrible at gravy and sauces!! This one worked like a charm!

Melt the butter in a sauce pan over medium heat, whisk in flour slowly until you get a nice paste forming, add salt and pepper and slowly start to pour in the chicken broth, whisking continuously, once it is smooth and ready to boil, turn the heat off and whisk in cheese, once cheese is melted and the sauce is shiny and silky and gorgeous...pour it on top of the chicken and rice, mix it around, top with some cheddar cheese and bake for 30 minutes, take out and let it sit up about 15 minutes and then serve. Hubby loved, loved it, me too!

If you need it fast:
Use pre-cooked roasted chicken you get at the grocery store deli. Use pre-cooked bagged rice's in the rice section of grocery store, use one wild and one white. For the cheese sauce I would still do the cook your own version, it is so good, but in a pinch, heat up 2 cans of cheddar cheese soup, mixed with 2 cans milk, season with pepper only, as canned soup has too much salt!