Ham & Rice Casserole

Happy cold day! Here in Northern Illinois we got dumped on with several inches of snow Sunday night, yesterday we had windchill temperatures in the -50s and today we're still close to -30 with windchill. I've had more days off from school this week than I've actually been at school. I wanted to share one of mine and Austin's favorite comfort dishes. It's definitely not the healthiest but it is SO good. I remember my mom making this growing up but I would never try it (for those of you who don't know - I was an EXTREMELY picky eater) but she gave me the recipe a few months ago and now we make it about twice a month. Its a quick and easy weeknight dinner!

The measurements I'm sharing are for a two person serving (8x8 dish) but could easily be doubled to feed more - that's how my mom always made it! 

What you're going to need for this recipe includes: 

2 cups cooked brown rice

1 can cream of celery soup 

1/2 can of green beans (drained)

1/2 cup heavy cream or half & half

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1/4 cup grated parmesan 

1 T minced onion

1/2 T mustard 

Diced ham (personal preference on amount)

pepper to taste 

Side note: I use the Trader Joe's frozen brown rice (1 package) instead of making my own - it's just easier and quicker for weeknights! You can definitely just cook your own brown rice.

Melt together the soup & heavy cream. Heat until just about boiling.

Add in the cheese, onion, pepper and mustard. 

Add your rice, sauce, ham and green beans (almost forgot mine here) to the greased casserole dish and mix them all together. Sprinkle the french fried onions right on top and throw it in the oven! 

Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees

2018 Recap

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Austin and I rang in the New Year at 10:30 last night and went to be early...most exciting 23 year olds that I know. But I have to admit, it feels pretty good not being hung over today and I'm kinda looking forward to getting my office organized. Every year I like to put a post together looking back on the year just for myself to be able to reflect on the year and to have a place that I can always go to, to look back on. This year though I noticed a lot of people using Instagram stories to do the same thing which I loved being able to look at everyone else's year in review and made me even more excited to do this post! I hope you enjoy reading all about my year because to me it sure was an exciting one!

JANUARY

In January this year I started nursing school which was super exciting! I started a two year BSN program meaning I was accepted after completing I want to say like 60 hours of gen eds (basically an associates) and will graduate after two years with a bachelors in nursing. For the most part - I love nursing school. Yeah it's hard but being around people all the time that get it and that share the same passion as you is so nice and so fun. 

FEBRUARY 

I feel like February is always kind of a dud month. It's always cold, snowy and there is nothing exciting going on. We celebrated our three year anniversary this month but didn't really do too much because of school (we usually go out of town or something). We also started remodeling our main bathroom. 

MARCH

March was a little bit more exciting! I passed my first eight weeks of school which meant that I got to participate in the White Coat Ceremony and move onto clinicals and direct patient care. This meant in March I also had my first days of nursing school clinicals which were on a medical surgical unit. At the end of March we celebrated Ella's (our niece) 3rd birthday! 

APRIL

Hmmm another uneventful month. Let's see I learned that the operating room is not for me and chopped off about 10 inches of my hair...that's about as exciting as it got. 

MAY

May wrapped up the first semester of nursing school! Whooohoo! Such a good feeling to have that under my belt. We finished up our bathroom renovation (https://baileycollette.blogspot.com/2018/05/bathroom-renovation.html) just in time for Hannah and John to come visit before the left for Asia for the summer! 

JUNE

This was another eventful month - now that school was done we had so much free time. I went to my first Cubs game, took a trip to Tennessee (Austin's first trip to the farm) for Father's Day and ended the month in Grand Rapids, Michigan! I made a short video while we were in Tennessee which I will link here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnkE85kov60)

JULY

July was such an exciting month! I took my first trip out to Colorado to visit Kit while she was working there for the summer. I loved it! I stayed at a hotel right on the lake and got to kayak and relax while Kit was working. Then when she wasn't working I hung out with her at the ranch! At the end of the month we took our family trip down to Florida. This year we decided to go to Ft. Myers instead of Panama City just for a change of scenery and AUSTIN AND I GOT ENGAGED!!!! Best trip to Florida by far. I made a video of our trip that I will go ahead and leave the link to (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foZNhTGBkGc&t=24s) 

AUGUST

Back to school.

SEPTEMBER

This was a busy month of school of social stuff I feel like. In the beginning of the month I participated in the Alzheimer's Walk with my school which was a lot of fun and is a condition that is super close to my heart. Then at the end of the month my family participated in a bike bar crawl which is exactly what it sounds like..you ride your bicycle while bar hoping (tons of fun - didn't fall this year) all while raising money for hospice. 

OCTOBER

October was just a busy month of school - I feel like October is similar to February in a way, there is never really anything going on. We spent my birthday getting our engagement pictures done and then went shopping and out to dinner!

NOVEMBER

November was another busy month of school. Got hit with a blizzard (haven't really had much snow since), celebrated Thanksgiving..that was about it! I did get to see Ash over Thanksgiving break which is always a treat since we don't get to see each other very often! 

DECEMBER

I officially passed my first year of nursing school!! For a little bit this semester I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to make it but I did and that's all that matters. I've been enjoying my break and spending time with family. We even took a trip to Tennessee to visit my Grandpa.

I'm excited to see what 2019 brings! I'll be graduating nursing school and getting this wedding planned!