Chicken & Vegetable Quinoa Casserole

I've been hearing so much about quinoa lately and am a bit embarrassed to say I've never tried it before until this week.  I've been using quinoa pasta lately and love it and decided to finally use my box of quinoa in my pantry this week.  I was not disappointed.  I found a casserole recipe on Nelly's Pantry and was rather pleased to find that it was dairy-free.  It isn't often you find a dairy-free casserole since most of them are loaded with cream of chicken soup, cream of broccoli soup and mayonnaise.  I love that this one makes a chicken gravy and uses that instead.  Plus, casseroles are so versatile.  You can throw and vegetable you like into it.  You can throw one or many.  I added in broccoli, corn and carrots into mine.  Of course if you don't have a dairy allergy this recipe would be awesome with cheese.  I know my husband was probably thinking that the entire time he was eating it but he's wonderful enough to forgo his cheese in front of me and the kids since we can't eat it.

Mix all ingredients together.

Chicken & Vegetable Quinoa Casserole

1 1/2 c. uncooked quinoa
6 c. chicken stock
1/3 c. all-purpose flour
3 tbsp. dairy-free butter or oil
2 bone in chicken breasts
1 c. broccoli
1/2 c. corn
1/2 c. sliced carrots
2 cloves minced garlic
1/3 c. panko breadcrumbs
Salt & Pepper to taste

Spread breadcrumbs evenly over top.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  On a baking sheet place your chicken breasts skin side up and season with a spray of cooking spray, salt and pepper and bake for 45 minutes.  Meanwhile cook your quinoa.  I think cooking it in chicken stock gives it better flavor but you can use water if you rather.  Add quinoa to a saucepan with 3 cups of chicken stock and bring to a boil.  Cover and simmer for about 10-15 minutes or until all liquid has evaporated.  Set aside to cool in a large mixing bowl.  Steam all your vegetables for about 5 minutes to cook them just a bit and pour over the top of the quinoa.  Once chicken has baked set aside until cool enough to handle and remove breast from bone and chop.  Add chicken to the quinoa and vegetable mixture.  Now to make your sauce.  Add 3 tbsp. butter or oil to a saucepan over medium heat.  Add garlic and cook for a minute or two until nice and fragrant.  All in your flour and whisk until combined to make your roux.  Slowly add in your chicken stock (3 cups) while whisking to prevent lumps and bring to a boil until thick.  It should coat the back of a spoon quite well at this point.  If you rather you could cook your vegetables in the gravy instead of steam them but that's up to you.  Now pour the gravy over the quinoa, chicken and vegetable mixture and stir (gently) until combined.  Pour in a greased baking dish.  Add the panko to the top of the casserole and lightly spray with cooking spray.  Bake at 400 for 30 minutes or until golden brown.  I turned my broiler on high for the last 3-5 minutes to make the top extra golden.  

Baked to golden delicious perfection!

I entered all of the ingredients into this recipe calorie calculator found here - Recipe Calorie Counter   and determined that this recipe is roughly 205 calories for a 1/2 c. serving.  This is only an estimate.  I calorie count my meals these days so you will see many more of these nutrition facts on my site in the future.  
 

Nutrition Facts User Entered Recipe
12 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories		204.5
Total Fat		7.1 g
	Saturated Fat	3.5 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	0.6 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	2.1 g
Cholesterol		38.3 mg
Sodium		516.9 mg
Potassium		381.7 mg
Total Carbohydrate		22.0 g
	Dietary Fiber	2.2 g
	Sugars	2.5 g
Protein		13.6 g