I Made a Meal with 12 Ingredients!!!!

The other night I made Chicken and Rice Casserole in the crockpot and it is awesome. I say 'is' instead of 'was' because we are still eating the left overs, yummy! I didn't take pictures of it because I didn't know if it would turn out well, but it did!! It's my first meal to make with one of my cookbooks and I went grocery shopping for it and everything. I actually picked out a ton of meals that sounded great and then narrowed it down by common ingredients and then narrowed it down to 4 because I knew our budget couldn't handle all of those groceries!

I didn't start making it in time so we ate pretty late (9ish), but it was so exciting to eat! Here is the recipe:

1 6.2 oz. package fast cooking long-grain and wild rice mix
2 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped (it took me a while to figure out what a 'rib' is)
3 cups chopped cooked chicken
3 cups (12 oz) shredded colby-Jack cheese blend, divided
1 (10.75 oz.) can of cream of mushroom soup
1 (8 oz) container of sour cream
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 cup crushed round buttery crackers

• Prepare rice mix according to package directions.
  
• Meanwhile, melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat; add onion and celery. Saute 4 minutes or until tender.
• Combine rice, sauteed veggies, chicken, 2 cups cheese, and next 5 ingredients; spoon into a lightly greased 5-quart slow cooker.
  
• Cover and cook on LOW 4.5 hours. Combine remaining 1 cup cheese and cracker crumbs; sprinkle over casserole.
• Cover and cook on LOW 30 more minutes.
  

Makes 6 Servings.

Try it out, let me know what you think! It's so fun!!!! I have never done anything like that. The extent of my cooking was Hamburger Helper... poor Andrew. He's happy with anything that is called food though so that is nice. I call him The Human Garbage Disposal. :)

Love you all!