My Crazy Chicken Spinach Potato Chip Casserole

I hope this works.

I made a chicken rice potato chip casserole. But not the standard kind with cream of chicken soup.

I cooked three chicken breasts (but only ended up using two). Meanwhile my daughter made a sauce of the following:

- one cup homemade chicken stock

- 1/3 cup mayo

- 1/2 cup soy milk

We added spices:

- parsley

- Himalayan pink salt 

- black pepper

- garlic

- mustard

- ras el hanout

- nutmeg

- cheddar cheese dip mix (about 2-3 tablespoons)

We mixed into the sauce:

- 2 cups raw spinach

- 1 cup northern beans

We placed one cup cooked rice on the bottom of the casserole dish. We layered sauce/mix onto the rice, put in the chicken chucks, and then sprinkled a touch of Parmesan and mozzerella cheese on it. We put the rest of the sauce/mix on top, added more cheese and topped the whole mess with crushed potato chips. 

I put it in the oven, uncovered, at 325 for 30 minutes...

It's a tad bland. I need to jazz up the spice blend more.

Chicken-spinach casserole Mexican style

We don't have much food left in the house. We made a family pack of chicken breasts last night. We froze some and my husband made some into stir fry for dinner.

Today I made some into a casserole.

My husband made some penne while I made a cheese sauce. I started with two tablespoons of butter on low heat with a tablespoon of flour. I mixed them with a rubber spatula and then added about two teaspoons chili powder and one teaspoon cumin.

When that incorporated nicely, I measured out 1 cup of soy milk, which I doled out a bit at a time mixing everything together. I gradually added about 3 ounces of extra sharp cheddar and the rest of a can of jalapeño-cheddar dip (about 2 1/2 tablespoons). 

Next I added about 1/4 cup diced black olives and 1/2 cup mild salsa.

Then I added a block of frozen spinach I'd thawed.

We mixed the noodles and the sauce, added the chicken, stirred, covered and baked at 350 for 45 minutes.

Before serving I sprinkled with the crumbs from the bottom of a bag of Simply Balanced organic blue corn/flax chips.

This was very delightful. I could eat all of it. Wind chill is 4 degrees. It was a casserole kind of day.

Casserole and more Target shopping

My girlfriend gave us a chunk of velveeta and my husband was hungry for tuna casserole, so I mixed up a velveeta sauce and made this tuna, spinach and rice casserole.

Today I used my 5% pharmacy rewards from Target and did a big shopping order of about $250 worth of merchandise that I paid less than $200 for.

Subtotal: after coupons: $241.03
Team member discount: - 24.71
Rx rewards: -11.09
Red card: -10.26
Tax: $2.64
Total: $197.61

What I bought:
- Clorox 2 stain remover, $1.75 - 55 cent coupon
- Doritos, 2 bags cool ranch, $3 each
- pirate booty, veggie flavor, 2 bags at $2.79
- tortilla chips, $2.99
- Juicy Juice 100% juice juice boxes, 4 @ $2.55
- organic spring mix, $2
- fresh express romaine garden salad, 2 bags at $2
- fresh red potatoes, $2.29
- asparagus, fresh, $1.99
- fresh broccoli, $1.79
- fresh cauliflower, $1.79
- Smuckers blueberry preserves, $3.09
- agave nectar, $3.99
- Dickinson wild berry preserves, $3.87
- market pantry strawberry preserves, big jar, $2.89
- market pantry Mac and cheese, 6 @ 67 cents
- tomato sauce, 4 cans at 67 cents
- Archer Farms raspberry salsa, 2 @ $2.99
- mild salsa, $2.49
- wheat pasta, 2 @ $1.07
- Barilla plus multigrain pasta, 2 @ $1.14
- market pantry pasta, various shapes, 5 @ $1
- better oats, blueberry muffin instant oatmeal, 2 boxes at $1.79
- Quaker oatmeal to go banana bread squares, 3 @ $7.50
- Bush's vegetarian baked beans, the big cans, 3 @ $1.99
- 12 ounce can of chunk light tuna, 4 at $2.34
- market pantry sugar, $2.79
- unbleached white flour, $1.99
- old orchard juice concentrate, 4 @ $1.59
- welches 100% grape juice concentrate, $1.50
- 2 archer farm frozen pizzas, $4.99 each
- Thai vegetable blend, $2.29
- cilantro lime rice blend, $2.29
- frozen peas, 2 bags, $1.02 each
- sweet potato fries, $1.97
- dannon strawberry yogurt parfait, $1.99 minus 50 cent coupon

Now for the household items:
- Nads facial wax strips, $4.49
- two big bottles of up and up cetrizine, $13.19 each
- up and up toothpaste, on clearance, 2 tubes at $1.95 each
- Scott natural toilet paper, 12 roles, $9.99 - $2 coupon
- 2 boxes tampons, $4.94 each minus $1 coupon

And the cats:
- 28 pounds cat litter, $8.92 minus $1 coupon
- 20 lbs Iams, $23.74
- Purina one salmon and rice, 14 pounds, $10.99
- beyond chicken cat food, 7 pounds, $7.69 minus $1 coupon

Other coupons:
- $1.50 off $10 in fresh produce
- six reusable bags, 30 cents

Creamy potato casserole

I'm not even sure about this one.

I started with this as my base:
http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,178,135181-251195,00.html

I used a diced smoked pork chop instead of ham and halved the meat, adding close to 2 cups broccoli.
I substituted soy milk for milk and made a "brown" gravy with the last batch of chives from last years garden, a 1/2 teaspoon of garlic and about 1/4 teaspoon of dry mustard instead of the leek mixture.
I forgot the paprika.
I didn't notice the butter and layered my gravy into the casserole instead of butter.
My casserole dish was overstuffed.
And my gravy was lumpy.

Time will tell.

It was very very yummy. Phew! I was sweating that one.

Chicken, shrimp and broccoli

Today, forgetting I still have half a broccoli cheese pot pie in the fridge, I embarked on chicken and broccoli for lunch.

So, I preheated the oven to 350 and set the Le Creuset skillet on the front burner on low with 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil, 1 teaspoon butter, and 1 teaspoon four color peppercorn.

I took two slightly thawed chicken breasts and about two cups shrimp and dropped them in the skillet. I sprinkled garlic powder and paprika (lightly) on everything. Ten minutes each side, but about halfway I did turn the heat up to almost medium.

I added as much broccoli as I could get in the skillet (fresh) and then added one cup chicken broth. and one more teaspoon butter distributed in chunks. I also got out two cups of wegmans thai vegetable stock. I thawed both of these broths in the microwave must still had an icy chunk for each so I set one on top of each chicken breast thinking it could baste as it melts.

Into the oven it goes. Husband home for lunch in 45 minutes.

*This is the last of our shrimp.*

Baked Chicken and Fruit

As I mentioned another day, I own many cookbooks and I don't get to read them often enough to remember what I want to try... 

This particular recipe was the dinner I made when we had our first post-baby dinner party. Our neighbors had a baby one week older than ours so we shared this casserole one night. It comes from The Big Book of Casseroles by Maryana Vollstedt. 

Baked Chicken and Fruit (pictured before it goes into the oven): 

1 chicken, cut into serving pieces (3 to 3.5 pounds)

[I have always used about a pound of chicken breasts, cut into small chunks]

salt and pepper to taste

paprika [I don't have any today]

1 to 2 tablespoons vegetable oil [I use olive]

1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds

1/4 cup golden raisins [I use golden and regular, we like raisins]

1 cup pineapple chunks [I use one can]

4 peach halves [I use one can sliced peaches]

8 dried prunes [I skip]

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

2 cups orange juice

1. Preheat oven to 350. Sprinkle chicken with salt, pepper and paprika.

2. In Dutch Oven, over medium high heat, warm one tablespoon oil. Brown chicken until golden, five minutes on each side. Add more oil if needed. Add remaining ingredients. 

3. Cover and bake until chicken is no longer pink in the middle, about 50 minutes. Baste with sauce while cooking. Remove

 lid and cook 10 minutes longer. [I don't imagine the covering and uncovering is necessa

ry with my little pieces.] 

I made brown rice to accompany. My husband had three plates. I had three small scoops, which more or less equaled one big serving. My daughter ate one serving. I divided the leftovers into three containers: two containers each with one serving for an adult lunch and one big container with enough for all of us to have for dinner. If I had to figure it out, I would guess the whole batch cost less than $10 to make and more or less covered three meals for the family.