Great-Grandma's Chicken Rice Casserole

Ingredients

4 c. cooked chicken
2 c. uncooked rice (white or brown)
4 c. chicken broth
1 c. diced celery, chopped fine
1/2 c. chopped onion, chopped fine
4 T. butter
2 cans Cream of Mushroom Soup *
1 can Cream of Celery Soup *
15 oz. or 4 c. frozen peas & carrots
4 c. shredded cheddar
6 c. Rice Crispies - for the topping
1 stick butter, melted - for the topping

Directions

Cook rice in chicken broth. Saute' celery and onion in butter till tender. Mix all ingredients together except for the rice crispy topping. Melt the stick of butter for the topping and stir in the rice crispies. Top casseroles with buttered crispies.

Place in two greased 9x13 pans and bake at 350 for 1 hour. Check at 30-45 minutes to see if you need to lightly tent it with foil if the topping is starting to brown too quickly.

*Homemade Gluten Free Cream Soup (Equals 1 can of soup so you will need x3 of this recipe to replace the three cans of soup in the casserole)

1 c. milk
3 T. gf flour or 2 T. cornstarch or 4 T. tapioca flour
1 T. butter
1 tsp. gf chicken bouillon granules or 1 bouillon cube
scant 1 tsp. salt

Melt butter. Add flour, bouillon, and salt. Add milk and cook until thick, whisking constantly.

** Side Note: I added an extra 1/2 c. of milk (so a total of 3 1/2 c.) and extra 1 T. butter (total of 4 T.) when I was making my homemade cream soup for extra creaminess in the casserole...personal preference!