Rice and Mushroom Casserole

 This is one of our favorite rice accompaniment dishes.  Many people have asked for this recipe in the past. I grew up not liking brown rice, but now we have such wonderful kinds of brown rice such as Basmati, Jasmine, and even Sweet brown rice which is often used for Sushi.

Brown rice is every weight watcher’s dream food, and is a common sense approach to obesity control because it has a low glycemic index just like raw vegetables and fruits and other whole grains.  By metabolizing slowly and maintaining stable levels of blood sugar and/or serotonin, brown rice snips away food cravings. Brown rice has antioxidants and phytonutrients, and is a very good source of selenium, a trace mineral that induces DNA repair and synthesis in damaged cells and inhibits the proliferation of cancer cells.  Brown rice is an excellent source of manganese and magnesium as well. Just one cup of brown rice will provide you with 88.0% of the daily value for manganese. This trace mineral helps produce energy from protein and carbohydrates and is involved in the synthesis of essential fatty acids.

Read more: http://healthmad.com/nutrition/the-benefits-of-brown-rice/#ixzz0qtfwdWyK

Rice and Mushroom Casserole

1 Cup organic Basmati or Jasmine brown rice (I have also added wild rice to the brown rice successfully) 

1 Cup Butter from grass fed cows

1 lb. Fresh Mushrooms, sliced

1 Cup chopped organic Yellow Onion 

1 Cup chopped organic Celery

4 Cups organic or homemade Beef Broth

1 Cup Water

1 Teaspoon Celtic Sea Salt

1/2 Teaspoon dried Thyme, if fresh, use 2 teaspoons chopped Thyme

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  In a large skillet over medium heat, brown dry rice, stirring constantly until rice is a golden brown, about 5 minutes.  Pour into large casserole dish.  In same skillet, in half of the butter, cook celery and when starting to turn opaque, put in the onions and mushrooms cooking until tender.  Add remaining ingredients and heat to boiling.  Over rice in casserole dish, pour mixture from skillet. Stir and cover  casserole and bake for 1 hour, or until the rice tests done and all liquid is absorbed.  With a fork, lightly toss the remaining butter (cut into cubes) until butter is melted and mixture is fluffy.