Gluten Free and Good

Believe it or not, I have made some pretty tasty meals lately.  Here is something that I like to make if I have some leftover rice...comes together rather quickly and easily which is how I like to cook.

Rice Crust Pizza  (GLUTEN FREE) all ingredients that I list here are gluten free.

2 cups COOKED rice (if rice is cold, I put a little water in it and heat slightly in microwave)
1/2 to 3/4 cup grated Pepperjack cheese  ....1cup cheddar cheese for the topping
1 pound chopped boneless chicken
1/2 onion chopped
2 big stalks of celery
1/2 of a big green bell pepper (or red , or yellow one)
 Cherry tomatoes . This time I used my Daddy's canned tomato juice.
Seasonings:  Seasoned salt, garlic powder, pepper & salt.  Also, McCormick's Steakhouse Seasoning Grinder- have you tried this?  We just discovered this and my husband loves it on everything! (It must be good...the store will have all the different kinds but only 1 or 2 will be left of that kind.)

Mix the rice and the Pepperjack cheese together. Press down in a buttered glass pie plate.  (As you prepare the following...you may put the pie plate in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes.)
Cook the chicken in a little olive oil with the onion, celery and peppers. Season as you wish...I use the seasonings listed.   If you have tomatoes, put them in with the chicken, celery , onion and pepper mixture.  Now, mix 1/3cup SALSA with 1 tsp. cornstarch.  Put in pan with everything & stir it well.  OR, just mix the 1/3 cup salsa with 1/3 cup tomato juice and put in the pan.   (The salsa really does give this a lot of flavor.)

Now, did you remember the pie plate that you put in the oven?  Is it sitting on top of the stove waiting?
Good, now put the cooked mixture in the pie plate and grate some cheddar cheese on the top.  You could put pepper jack cheese on the top, but if you have a son who doesn't LIKE pepperjack, then you put cheddar on the top so he doesn't KNOW that there is pepperjack cheese in the dish! Sneaky, huh?

Put this back into the 400 degree oven and this takes another 20-30 minutes or until you just can't wait a minute longer...after all, everything is already cooked, right?

While this is cooking, make some of my famous green beans. 
Saute some chopped onion in a 2 qt. saucepan until close to brown, as this is cooking get 2 cans of green beans. Drain one can, and partially drain the other can.  Pour into the pan with the onions. (In other words, just have the water in the one can.) Bring this up to a good boil and let it simmer away...Season with salt & pepper. Now, the rice crust pizza should be almost ready... drain the beans and squeeze a bit of lemon over the green beans.  Put a little butter over the green beans.  These green beans are really good with the rice crust pizza.  Oh, and I usually use jasmine rice, just because that is what my husband likes, but plain white rice would do just fine.

There. perhaps this is more like a casserole...you really need to eat it with knife and fork.  We really like it though...we have used different meat and also just used veggies and it is good EVERY TIME.

This also happens to be gluten-free but it would be good for anybody, as you can see, there is nothing strange in it, it is just good food!  Just noticed the date that I wrote beside this handwritten recipe, it is June 9, 1999!  I told you I have made this for years!

That cabbage has nothing to do with this recipe.  It is from my Daddy's garden and isn't it beautiful?  I am forever taking photos of vegetables. The other photo is of the bluebells in England in June of 2010. So, you see the red clay of Georgia with the sturdy cabbage and the beautiful bluebells in that rich dark earth of England... each place very different but both very dear to me.