Brown rice, Veggie and herb gratin

I am running a couple days behind on the dinner blog.... sorry. Lets see, we had roasted chicken on Wednesday evening, which was amazing! I dropped by the farmers market last Saturday and bought a frozen chicken. This chicken was locally raised, under the sun, living it's full life as a chicken should. No hormones, no antibiotics and no inhumane cage.

I have to admit though, I did not take part in the preparing or the cooking of the chicken. I learned to cook after becoming a vegetarian, and am clueless as to the ways of preparing or cooking meat. I had good intentions of learning, but realized I may not be ready for such endeavors. Once the cutting and hacking started, I was out of there! Lucky for me, Jason is a great cook and knows how to prepare chicken. He did a wonderful job and the roasted chicken was delicious!

Friday night was pizza night - BBQ pizza this time around. Again, this was all Jason. In fact, I think he cooked dinner 3 nights in a row!

Now, up to the weekend. Saturday I made a brown rice casserole, but changed it up a little. Rather than use zucchini that is not in season around here, I chose rainbow chard, which is a winter green. I will post the original recipe, as it appears in the book, but also provide my modifications. Both are tasty.

Brown rice, Veggie and Herb Gratin

1/2 cup brown rice

1 cup veggie broth

olive oil

1 medium red onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, mashed

1 carrot, cut into matchsticks (6 smallish carrots, cut into thin strips, but not matchsticks)

1 zucchini (2 bunches rainbow chard, coarsely chopped, including the stem)

3 oz baby corn cobs, halved lengthwise (1 can of corn, drained)

2 TBS sunflower seeds

2 TBS chopped mixed herbs (hmmm, best guess here - 1/4 tsp dried thyme, 1/4 tsp dried rosemary, 1/4 tsp dried sage)

1 cup grated mozzarella cheese

2 TBS whole-wheat bread crumbs (crushed Wheatsworth crackers)

salt and pepper

1. Cook rice in veggie broth according to package directions. Brown rice is usually 1:2 ratio.

2. Heat olive oil in a skillet and add onion. Cook 3 minutes, then add garlic. Cook another few minutes, stirring often.

3. Add carrots, zucchini (or chard), corn, and herbs cooking about 5 more minutes.

4. Mix the rice with the sunflower seeds, then add to veggies.

5. Stir in 1/2 the mozzarella cheese, stir together.

6. Spoon the mixture into an oven proof 13 X 9 inch dish. Sprinkle bread crumbs and cheese on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes until cheese begins to golden.

I served temphe sauteed in olive oil and soy sauce for our protein. I think the description on cooking temphe in the fashion can be found in a previous post.

Enjoy!