I was scrolling through Facebook the other day and someone had posted about needing ideas for dinner from the ingredients they had in the house. And like a TV flashback scene, I was back at my old kitchen table and my mom was serving her “whatever was leftover in the pantry” casserole. It was nothing special, but it was a way for her to waste anything that was leftover from other recipes or just straggling behind at getting closer and closer to the expiration date. I remember it tasting good and feeling homey. I called her up after I saw that post and asked her what was in it and she said, “well what do you have?” She then gave me the basic ingredients that I will now pass on to you. The thing to remember about this recipe is that it is flexible; it’s all about what you have. You can use any “cream of” base and you can use any
Ingredients
2 cups uncooked instant rice, (4 cups cooked)
1 can corn
1 can green beans
1 lb ground beef, or shredded chicken
1 can cream of mushroom (or chicken)
1 cup shredded cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste
Milk, if needed
Instructions
Cook your rice* and set aside in a large bowl. Cook your ground beef (salt and pepper the beef), drain any excess liquid and add to the bowl of rice.
Drain your canned veggies and add to the bowl along with the cream of mushroom and a little more salt and pepper. Mix well. If the mixture seems a little dry add a little milk. If you don’t have milk you can add more cream of mushroom or just let it ride.
Spray a 9x11 with cooking spray and add mixture. Cook in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.
If you want to use this as a make ahead meal, I would add 15 minutes onto the cook time if coming out of the fridge. If freezing, I would recommend thawing but if you cant, add and extra 45 minutes onto cooking and cook cover with foil. Remove foil the last 15 minutes of cooking.
* I’m going to be honest; rice math is the hardest math. Depending on what type of rice you use your measurements are different. I used the instant rice from Wegmans and did two cup uncooked. You want the rice to be the main part of the dish so if you make your rice and you think, “That can’t possibly be enough,” you’re probably right. That’s exactly what I did when I used the 1-cup dry rice my mom told me too, so I doubled it and it was fine. You want about 4 cups cooked rice! Good luck