Chicken Spectacular

We were supposed to go to dinner at our friends Jake and Kim's tonight, but my son (whom I love very much...I've been repeating this all day and you'll see why) woke up at 1:15 AM and never went back to sleep. So we weren't really up for going anywhere tonight since I've been up since literally the middle of the night. I had to come up with a last minute dinner, and while I was looking in the pantry I realized I had everything for this casserole because I was going to make it with chicken leftovers but didn't have enough chicken. So I just cooked up some chicken and voila! This is one of my favorite dinners, and we haven't had it in forever!

Chicken Spectacular
3 cups cooked chicken (about 1 3/4 pounds boneless breasts), cubed
3 cups seasoned long grain and wild rice, prepared
14 1/2-ounce can French-style green beans, drained
8-ounce can sliced water chestnuts, drained
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) lower fat condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup fat free mayonnaise
3/4 cup onion, diced
1 cup fat free Cheddar or cheddar-Jack cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 350º. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except cheese. Place in greased 9- by 13-inch pan and top with the cheese. Bake, uncovered, for 35 minutes. *There are several sizes of\par packages of long grain and wild rice mixes, generally ranging from 4 to 6 ounces. We tested this recipe with a 5-ounce package.

Makes 8 main-course portions.

*****

I ended up freezing about half of it because we are heading out of town tomorrow for my best friend's wedding. It's so good, I didn't want it to go to waste. I've never frozen it before, so we'll see how it turns out.