Chicken Noodle Casserole

I decided to make this for dinner last week because my husband had a cold. You know, the change of weather sniffles, sneezing, sore throat, etc. Don't worry, he's doing better now. Maybe it was this casserole that helped him out!

This was a really comforting meal that tasted like chicken noodle soup in a casserole! It was easy to make with ingredients that you probably have on hand. Although my husband said he couldn't really taste it (poor thing!) he said he liked the texture. But I'll vouch on the taste - it was great!

Ingredients
Source: www.Allrecipes.com

2/3 cup chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon olive or canola oil
1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
1 1/2 cups chopped carrots
3 celery ribs, chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried savory
3 tablespoons butter or stick margarine
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
1 1/2 cups 2% milk
1 1/4 cups shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese
8 ounces wide egg noodles, cooked and drained
1/2 sleeve crushed Ritz crackers (I added this)

Directions

In a large nonstick skillet, saute onion and garlic in oil until tender. Add chicken; cook and stir until no longer pink. (I cooked the chicken first, then added the onions and garlic). Add the broth, carrots, celery and savory. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan, melt butter. Stir in the flour, salt and pepper until smooth. Gradually add milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from the heat; stir in cheese until melted. Pour over chicken mixture. Add noodles; mix well.

Transfer to a 3-qt. baking dish coated with nonstick cooking spray. Sprinkle crushed crackers over entire casserole. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes or until bubbly.

Zucchini Feta Casserole

This is by far one of my favorite summertime dishes. It's fresh, flavorful and filling! I always end up with way too many zucchinis from my garden, so this is a great recipe to make because it uses a whole zucchini. My inspiration was originally from a Cooking Light recipe, however I have altered it to my tastes quite a bit over the years, so I don't think it's much like the original! The reason I like this meal so much is because you can adapt it to suit your mood and tastes. Sometimes I add tomatoes, use different cheeses, or add in chopped chicken breast. I was also thinking that artichokes would be great in this, although I haven't tried that yet. In addition, it's a really quite a healthy recipe! Overall, this meal is the perfect summertime dinner.
Ingredients
Adapted from Cooking Light

1 14.5 oz. box Penne Pasta
1 medium zucchini, thinly sliced
1 onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, chopped and cooked (optional)
2 medium tomatoes, chopped (optional)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons all purpose flour
1/2 cup low sodium chicken stock
1/2 cup (2 oz.) crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup (2 oz.) shredded part skim mozzarella cheese

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook pasta in boiling salted water for about 10 minutes, or until al dente. Drain and set aside.

In a large saute pan over medium-high heat, add about 1-2 tablespoons olive oil, then zucchini, onion and garlic. Cook for about 10 minutes or until onion is tender and opaque, and zucchini is wilted. Then add tomatoes (if desired) and cook for another 5 minutes or until tomatoes are soft. In a small bowl, whisk together chicken stock and flour until thoroughly combined, then add to vegetables. Cook for another minute or two, until sauce is thickened. Add salt and pepper to taste.

In a large bowl, combine pasta, zucchini mixture, feta cheese, and cooked chicken (if desired) until combined. Pour into a 13x9 baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over entire casserole and bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until bubbly and lightly browned.

Brian's Venison Casserole

With Christmas cookie making, cleaning and wrapping gifts on Sunday, I was beat when it came time to make dinner. So my darling husband offered to make dinner for me! He can make one dish, and it's pretty good! So he calls it "his" casserole. There's really no recipe for it...he just throws it all together! I'm really not even sure how he thought of it. So here are the basics...but feel free to change it up to make it your own. It's great comfort food and a really good weeknight meal.

Ingredients
1 lb ground venison (we always use venison but you could easily sub. ground beef)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 can of whole kernel corn
1/2 cup of peas (thawed, if necessary)
cheddar cheese...as much as you want!
aprox. 3/4 cup jiffy mix
aprox. 3/4 cup milk
salt
Pepper

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brown venison in a large skillet until cooked through. If you use ground beef, you might have to drain the fat. Venison is so lean you usually don't have to. In the same skillet as the ground venison, add chopped onion, garlic, salt, pepper, corn and peas. Cook about 5-6 minutes, or until onions are translucent. Then add about 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese (or more if you want!) and stir until melted. Remove from heat and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, combine milk and jiffy mix until it reaches your desired consistency. Brian likes his on the thin side...about the same consistency as pancake batter. Pour about 1/4-1/2 the batter on the bottom of a greased 13x9 casserole dish (I use a 2 1/2 quart casserole dish). Then add your meat mixture. Sprinkle a little cheddar on top of that. Finally, pour the rest of the jiffy mix batter until it covers all of the meat/cheese mixture. If you need to make more batter, that is fine. Just make sure it covers the meat mixture.
Bake for aprox 40-45 minutes until top is golden brown. If you're unsure if the jiffy mix is cooked through, poke a toothpick in the center. When it comes out dry, it is done.

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Last week I knew I was going to have a busy week ahead of me, so I found this easy recipe on http://www.pillsbury.com/ and got the ingredients for a week night "no time to cook" emergency. Well, last night happened to be that night! After a long meeting after work and horrible traffic, DH and I got home late so I whipped up this meal.

It was surprisingly good! I had my doubts with canned soup, instant rice etc. but the flavor was there and it was very hearty. I think this meal was perfect what it was...a "no time to cook" emergency.
Some changes I made were:

1) I used venison instead of Chicken

2) I used motzerella instead of Cheddar! I know, how odd. But it was all I had and it was ok...I'd definately use cheddar next time though!

3)When layering, I used a new layer of tortilla each time with refried beans.

4)Instead of making a round casserole, I did it in a square pan.

5) I used about 4oz. of cream cheese instead of one!

6) Did not use red bell pepper...I don't like them!

INGREDIENTS
1 boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into thin bite-size strips
1/2 medium red bell pepper, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 can (18.5 oz) Progresso® Light Southwestern-style vegetable soup
1/4 cup uncooked instant brown rice
1 oz fat-free cream cheese, cut into cubes
3 tablespoons Old El Paso® fat-free refried beans (from 16-oz can)
4 corn tortillas (6 inch)
1/3 cup shredded reduced-fat mild Cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS
1. Heat oven to 350°F. In 12-inch nonstick skillet, cook chicken and bell pepper over medium-high heat 4 to 6 minutes, stirring constantly, until chicken begins to brown and bell pepper is crisp-tender. Sprinkle with cumin.
2. Stir in soup. Heat to boiling. Stir in rice; reduce heat to low. Cover; cook about 10 minutes or until rice is tender.
3. Stir cream cheese into chicken mixture until well blended. Spread 1 tablespoon of the refried beans on 1 tortilla; place, beans side up, in bottom of ungreased 1-quart casserole. Top with 1 cup chicken mixture; sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of the cheese. Repeat 2 times. Top with remaining tortilla; sprinkle with remaining cheese.
4. Cover; bake 20 to 25 minutes or until mixture is hot and cheese is melted.