Chicken Sauce over Wild Rice

I bought a small bag of Lundberg's 'Wild Blend' last week and wanted something to serve over my new rice. Of course I turned to carrots and celery and chicken. I was aiming for a thick sauce/soup mixture to pour over the top and that's what I got. Not powerful enough to cover up the taste of the chewy wild rice, but still flavorful. Served below with Gluten-Free By The Bay: Lemon Roasted Cauliflower with Dill. Visit her tasty site for the zesty recipe.



Serves 3
50 minutes
-large saucepan with deep sides
-large pot with tight-filling lid
Easy

INGREDIENTS
Rice
1 c. uncooked rice: wild, but white or brown would work, too
Sauce**
3 medium carrots, peeled
2 medium celery stalks, ends removed
1/2 of a medium green bell pepper, cored
1/2 of a medium white onion
2 tbsp. olive oil -or- butter
2 tsp. dried parsley flakes (or some fresh parsley)
1 tsp. dried thyme leaves
1 large chicken breast, cut up into bite-sized pieces
1 14 oz can Swanson natural goodness chicken broth (1 cup)
3 heaping tsp. of GF flour (I used sweet white sorghum)
1/2 c. mozzarella cheese*; used to further thicken, instead of heavy cream
*I used Galaxy Nutritional foods mozzarella rice shreds to make this lactose-free
** Could serve alone as a thick soup... only add in 2 tsp. flour and a little less cheese. Stir in half of cooked rice at end.

DIRECTIONS
Rice
1. Cook according to directions on package in large pot with a tight-fitting lid. If rice cooking time is over 30 minutes, start rice before sauteing veggies and chicken.
Sauce
1. Cut up peeled carrots into 1/4th inch slices. Half if too big in diameter. Slice, then coarsely chop, up celery. Chop up cored green bell pepper and white onion into small-ish bits. Cut up and wash chicken breast. Set chicken aside from veggies, but by the range.
2. Place veggies (no chicken, yet) in large saucepan and pour in oil. Stir until coated, then turn on heat to medium-high. Add in parsley and thyme, to taste.
3. Saute veggies for 10 minutes, or until onion is translucent.
4. Push veggies to one side in saucepan and add in raw chicken breast, already cut. Saute chicken and veggies for another 5 minutes, until chicken is no longer pink on the outside.
5. Add in entire can of chicken broth, stirring. Cook veggies and chicken in simmering broth for another 10 minutes, until chicken is tender and fully cooked.
6. With broth still boiling, add in 3 heaping tbsp. of GF flour over veggies and stir until no longer clumpy (I found very few lumps-- a perk of no gluten?!) Sauce should be quite a bit thicker, but still just 'soup' consistency.
6. Remove saucepan from heat and quickly stir in mozzarella cheese until well melted. Now mixture should fully thicken into sauce.
7. Hopefully, by now, your rice is done cooking and is ready to be topped with chicken and vegetables. Enjoy with bread or another cooked veggie.