New Recipe: Cheesy Broccoli and Chicken Quinoa Casserole

You know you are tired when you attempt to use your phone calculator for a simple math problem and it takes you five minutes of wondering where the division key is before you realize its the phone keypad. Oy. AND it's only Monday.

Anyhow, I haven't posted any recipes for you lately, so I wanted to make the first recipe of the year a good one. A meal that is tasty, but healthy, and of course, following Jess rules, easy to make during the week, especially on days when using a calculator is difficult.

Please allow me to present the delicious, and fairly nutritious, Cheesy Broccoli and Chicken Quinoa Casserole. Here's what you'll need:

1 1/2 cups quinoa
1 head of broccoli, cut into small florets (or frozen florets if you want to move things along)
3 tbsp. unsalted butter
3 tbsp. all-purpose flour
2 shallots, diced
2 cups milk (we used low-fat)
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. dry mustard
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper, to taste
8 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
2 cups shredded cooked chicken (rotisserie chicken works well for this recipe)

Once you have all of your ingredients cook the quinoa according to the directions on the package. While the quinoa is cooking, steam the broccoli until it is crisp-tender and set it aside.

Next preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and get ready to make the best part - the cheese sauce. To make the cheese sauce, melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour, shallots, garlic powder, dry mustard and cayenne. Continue whisking until the mixture is a light golden color (1-2 minutes). Next whisk in the milk and allow the sauce to simmer, stirring frequently until the mixture bubbles and thickens (about 5 minutes).

After the sauce thickens, remove from the heat and whisk in the cheddar cheese until it is melted asnd smooth. Add in some salt and pepper to taste.

In a large bowl, combined the cooked quinoa, broccoli florets, shredded chicken and the cheese sauce until it is evenly combined.

Next transfer the mixture to a lightly greased casserole dish. Bake the dish for about 20-25 minutes until the top is lightly browned and serve warm.

Delicious!

Find this and other tasty recipes on my What's Cookin' page.