Cheesy Chicken & Broccoli Orzo — The Casserole That Started It All

Five years. Week 260. Five years since the whiteboard. I was eighteen, counting down weeks to graduation. Now I'm twenty-three, with a husband, a two-year-old, a book deal, a blog with half a million readers, and a recipe binder in its second volume. Five years. The math: - Duty stations: 4 (Norfolk, Lejeune, Pendleton, Twentynine Palms) - Years married: 3 - Children: 1 (Caleb, age 2, still won't eat broccoli) - Deployments survived: 1 - PCS moves: 3 - Recipe cards collected: 120+ - Blog posts published: 150+ - Book manuscripts completed: 1 - KitchenAid mixers lost: 1 (still mourning) - Dinners at 1800: approximately 1,825 One thousand eight hundred and twenty-five dinners. Five years of standing at a stove at the same time every day and putting food on a table. Not every dinner was good. Some were crunchy rice and burned meatloaf and lumpy gravy. But they were all dinner. They were all 1800. They were all the promise. Mom called. I didn't tell her about the five-year calculation. She doesn't count the way I count. She's been doing this for thirty years. Five years is just the beginning. 'What are you cooking tonight?' she asked. 'Your chicken and rice casserole.' 'The first one?' 'The first one.' The first recipe I ever cooked in Jacksonville. The first dinner in the deployment apartment. The first meal in every new kitchen since. The chicken and rice casserole that started everything. 'Good,' Mom said. 'That's a good choice for a milestone.' She knew. She always knows. She heard 'chicken and rice casserole' and understood that I was marking something. That tonight's dinner was not just dinner. Caleb sat at the table in his 'Caleb's Kitchen' apron and ate the casserole with a spoon (mostly — some of it ended up on the apron, the table, and the dog that doesn't exist but that Caleb pretends exists). Ryan ate two helpings. The casserole was perfect. Not Mom's perfect — my perfect. My version of her version of a recipe that's been in the binder since 1993. Five years. One thousand eight hundred and twenty-five dinners. One casserole to mark them all. Dinner at 1800. The promise. The axis. The thing that doesn't change. Five years down. Twenty-five to go. (I don't know about the twenty-five yet. But they're coming. And the casserole will be there for every one of them.)

This is the one. Not the exact recipe my mom wrote on a card in 1993 — I’ve made it my own over five years and four duty stations — but this cheesy chicken and orzo casserole is the closest I can put into words what that dish has always been for me: warm, filling, forgiving, and completely at home in any kitchen I’ve ever stood in. Caleb ate it with a spoon tonight, Ryan had two helpings, and I stood at the counter after and just felt the weight of 1,825 dinners settle into something that felt right. If you’re marking something — a milestone, a hard week, a new start — make this.

Cheesy Chicken & Broccoli Orzo

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 35 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 1/2 cups orzo pasta, uncooked
• 2 cups small broccoli florets
• 2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Instructions

1. Brown the chicken. Heat olive oil in a large, deep skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Season chicken pieces with salt, pepper, and smoked paprika. Cook for 4–5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
2. Saute the garlic. Reduce heat to medium. Add butter to the same pan. Once melted, add minced garlic and onion powder and cook for 30 seconds, stirring constantly, until fragrant.
3. Add orzo and broth. Pour in the chicken broth and milk. Add the uncooked orzo and stir to combine. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce heat to medium-low.
4. Simmer with broccoli. Return the browned chicken to the pan. Add broccoli florets and stir everything together. Cover and simmer for 12–14 minutes, stirring every few minutes, until the orzo is tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed.
5. Add the cheese. Remove from heat. Stir in 1 cup of cheddar and all of the Parmesan until melted and creamy. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed.
6. Finish and serve. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of cheddar over the top. Cover the pan for 2 minutes to let it melt, or place briefly under the broiler for a golden top. Serve directly from the pan.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 620 | Protein: 48g | Fat: 22g | Carbs: 54g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 580mg