About Dana

My photo
I'm a dichotomy of blue jeans, pretty jewelry, frugalista, and Southern girl living the simple rural life. I want to live my life holistically, thoughtfully, economically, and most of all gratefully, and encourage other women to do the same.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Delicious Chicken Casserole

Every good Southern woman has a chicken casserole recipe she relies on when she needs to cook supper without hassle or needs a dish to take to a sick friend from church. My chicken casserole is a combination of my mother's recipe, my mother-in-law's recipe, and my additions and tweaks to satisfy my family.

The first step is to lure the chicken out of the hen house.
Just kidding. I would never eat our Henny Penny.

But you'll have to bear with me a little on this recipe. I've made it so many times (it's my son's favorite meal) that I don't much measure anything and can make it in my sleep.

First, decide how much time you have to prepare the chicken. If I'm in a big rush, I will buy a fully cooked rotisserie chicken from the local grocery store and cut it up into bite size pieces. I usually only need about 1/2 to 2/3 of the chicken. If I plan ahead a little, I put three organic boneless chicken breasts in the crock pot that morning with a little water to cover them 2/3 of the way and salt and pepper. Cook them on low for about 5-6 hours.

An hour before you want to serve supper, remove the chicken from the crock pot, reserving the broth, and use two forks to shred it.  Boil a pot of water and cook whole grain egg noodles until done, about 8 minutes. Mix the chicken and egg noodles with:

about 8 ounces of light sour cream
one can of cream of chicken soup
a splash of chicken broth from the crock pot (just enough so the casserole isn't dry)
poppy seeds (I use lots).

Pour everything into a lightly greased two-quart casserole dish. It will look like this.

If you use enough chicken broth, it will be a little juicy which is important to keep it moist during the oven time coming next.

 
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Meanwhile, crush a sleeve of crackers into fine crumbs. Melt one stick of butter in the microwave and stir in the cracker crumbs. Top the chicken casserole and pop into the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes or until it is hot and bubbly and the crackers have browned.

There won't be any leftovers.

Happy cooking. Happy eating.
TCB