Broccoli and Rice Casserole

One of my husband's favorite dishes that I make is broccoli and rice casserole.  I don't make it very often because it usually takes so many pans...I hate doing dishes!  My sister brought up the fact that she still hasn't gotten this recipe from me, so it gave me the idea to make it to go along with my boneless pork ribs tonight (which didn't turn out that great).  We ate Chinese take-out yesterday and had a ton of steamed rice left over so that made the dish much quicker and simpler to prepare. 

The recipe I have used every other time I've made this dish called for Cheese Whiz and cream of mushroom soup.  I'm trying to reduce the amount of processed food my family eats so I decided to take a risk and make my own cheese sauce.  I turned out really good.   I had the can of cream of mushroom ready just in case I thought I needed it.  It needed a little more moisture so I chose to add some more milk instead of the soup.  The resulting casserole was pretty tasty and my husband was happy that I finally made it for him. 


1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 stick of butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk
3 cups grated cheddar cheese
4 cups cooked rice
4 cups cooked and chopped broccoli


Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Spray a 9X13 baking dish with nonstick spray.  Set aside.  Melt butter in a nonstick skillet.  Add onions and cook until tender.  Add flour and cook for 2-3 minutes.  Slowly whisk in milk.  Whisk constantly until sauce thickens. Stir in grated cheese until melted and well combined.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Mix in rice and broccoli.  If mixture seems too dry, stir in some more milk. Pour into the prepared dish. Cover and bake for 20-30 minutes.  Uncover and sprinkle cheese on top of the casserole and put back into the oven for 10 minutes.  Cook until hot and bubbly.