Creamy Chicken Casserole

I got this recipe at a church recipe exchange in 2010 and originally posted it on this blog way back then. We loved it. Casseroles are generally not my thing but this is a crowd-pleaser. (don't worry, I'm going to delete that post with the awful pictures right now)

A few weeks ago, I ordered some supplies from Walmart in case we got hit with sudden sickness. When they were delivered, they had sent a can of cream of chicken soup with my cans of regular chicken noodle soup by accident.

I decided to pull this recipe out again, in an effort to use that can of soup and in an attempt to get Wells to try something different than our usual dinners. I rarely make anything casserole-like just because it's so specific and we have to be willing to truly eat the same thing for multiple days. The closest I usually get is the occasional chicken pot pie.

But this casserole is really good. The recipe credit goes to my Alaska friend Cherie Taylor but I believe it came from Taste of Home. I originally posted it back in 2010, but the pictures were...not good. These are iPhone pics but maybe a bit better?

If you need comfort food this week, you might already have the ingredients!

Creamy Chicken Casserole

2-3 chicken breasts diced into small pieces
1 t. salt
1 t. pepper
1 t. poultry seasoning
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 8oz. block of fat-free or light cream cheese, softened (this is my addition as the original recipe uses regular)
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables
1 1/2 cups crushed Club, Ritz, or Townhouse crackers
3 T. melted butter

Cook the chicken pieces with salt, pepper, and seasoning.  In a mixing bowl,   stir cream cheese and soup until blended.  Add frozen vegetables.  When the chicken is cooked, stir it in, and spoon everything into a pie plate.  Melt butter and toss in the cracker crumbs until coated and use them to top the casserole.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Sausage Breakfast Bake

Recipe challenge, week nineteen.

Let me tell you: Mondays come around awfully quickly when you solemnly swear and promise to post a new recipe each Monday.  I do believe that I may start re-doing and highlighting my tried and true recipes at some point.  Because, honestly, we don't need 258 recipes in our repertoire.  We need just a few good recipes that we can make again and again and they never disappoint.

So, we'll see.

I have, as of right now, three recipes to make just so I can take pictures of them, but I don't feel like cooking big meals for myself.  My dinner rotation usually goes: sweet potatoes/black beans, pizza, Annie's Mac and Cheese, cereal, repeat.  Usually preceded by a spinach smoothie and some tortilla chips as an after-school snack. Leftovers are lunch the next day.  Breakfast is usually fancy, expensive peanut butter that I can't buy when Scott's around (because he'll eat it all) and toast (on fancy, expensive bread).  I usually have oatmeal or fruit at school for snacks.  Pre-popped popcorn also my number guilty pleasure.  I go through a bag a week.

Now that you know all of that unnecessary information, you can see that my current arrangement isn't conducive to cooking.

However...

This is a the perfect, easy brunch or lazy-day breakfast casserole.  We had it a few months ago, and I would make this for overnight guests or for a holiday breakfast.  I used chicken jalapeno sausage from TJ's and it was delicious.  Feel free to add bacon too (I've been watching Parks and Rec and bacon just seems like it would go with everything now).

You could alway split it up into muffin cups too and portion it out for a week of breakfasts.

Egg and Sausage Breakfast Bake

Makes a 9 inch pie plate (double for a 9x13 pan)

5 eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

4 sausage links, diced (for a 9x13 pan, used a whole package…I used Trader Joe’s Chicken Jalapeno)

2 cups shredded hashbrowns (I used frozen ones, but you could go with fresh potatoes or sweet potatoes)

½ cup diced green or red pepper (I didn’t have these on hand, but would use them in the future.)

½ cup diced onion

½ t. pepper

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Spread the frozen hashbrowns in the bottom of your pie plate.  In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, shredded cheese, and pepper. 

In a frying pan, lightly brown the onion, pepper, and sausage in a bit of olive oil.  You can skip this step if the sausage is precooked, but I like the crispy flavor.

Spread onto the top of the hashbrowns.  Pour the egg mixture over the top.

Bake for 40 minutes, but start checking it at 30 minutes (just in case) to see if the center is set.  Mine took about 45 minutes, but I’m never sure how much elevation is playing into things here and I also used convection.