PORK AND RICE CASSEROLE

Emergency Church Casserole

It was about 9 PM on Saturday evening when my husband nonchalantly said, 'Remember what tomorrow is?'

Hmmmm. I dredged my little brain for the answer and all of the sudden remembered that we were having a pot luck dinner at church, after Sunday School.

I was not in the mood to do ANYthing at that time, but after getting 3 nice, thick pork loin cuts out of the freezer, I poured some balsamic vinegar and some minced garlic into the Ziploc baggies they were in, stuck them in the refrigerator, and stopped worrying about what tomorrow would bring. I knew I had a good head start, and would come up with something eventually.

So morning arrived and I decided to throw together the following:

PORK and RICE CASSEROLE RECIPE:

     3 thick-cut pork loin pieces

     4 cloves garlic, chopped

     6 T. balsamic vinegar

     Combine meat, garlic, and vinegar in a Ziploc bag and marinate overnight in the refrig.

In the morning:

Cook enough white rice to have 3 cups of cooked rice for this casserole.  I usually use 2 c. of rice and 4 c. of water, then the cooked rice I don't use gets put into the refrigerator to use later in the week.

Cut the pork loin pieces into very thin strips

With a little Extra Virgin Olive Oil in a skillet, saute the pork loin strips until nice and browned. You can get started on a med high heat, but you'll have to turn it down to med or med-low to slowly brown it. Stir occasionally to get all sides browned. (Browned is just so much nicer, making it a bit crispy.)

While sauteeing the pork, use another skillet and a couple Tablespoons EVOO to stir-fry the following:

     1/2 stalk (The stalk is the whole thing; a rib is one of the pieces) celery, sliced thinly on the diagonal

     1 large carrot, pared and diced

     1 large onion, peeled and chopped

When the vegetables are translucent and tender and the pork is browned, combine the cooked rice, vegetables, and pork into a large bowl. Stir thoroughly.

Stir in some Sea Salt, Chinese 5 Spice Powder, and Cayenne to taste.

I used about 1/2-1t. Chinese 5 Spice Powder, 1/2 t. salt, and about 1/2 t. Cayenne.

Pour into casserole dish that's been sprayed with cooking spray.

Bake in 350 degree oven for about a half hour. 

If you don't want any of the rice crispy, then cover the casserole before baking.

If you're in a rush, you don't actually need to bake it at all. At this point, everything in it is cooked anyway.

You'll be surprised at how good this is!

The best part? It was easy, fast, and didn't contain any canned soups which have so many scary ingredients in them!

 

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This post is linked to: Making the World Cuter Mondays and Something I Whipped Up Monday and  Motivate Me Monday and Making Monday Marvelous and Made from Scratch Tuesday and Made by You Mondays and Delectable Tuesday and Anything Related Tuesday and Take a Look Tuesday and Tasty Tuesday  and Tasty Tuesday and Tasty Tuesday and  Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays  and Two Maids a Baking and  What's Cookin' Wednesday and Cast Party Wednesday and  It's a Party at Creative Princess and Lisa's Gluten-Free Blog and Foodie Friday and  I'm Lovin' it Friday