April 19, 2012

Dinner menu: Casserole Crunch

website: http://www.anniesrecipes.com/Recipe/21841/Chicken-Crunch-Casserole-.htm

The picture:

Wild Rice topped with Casserole Crunch and Chow Mein Noodles with a side of Steamed Broccoli

The Differences: On the original recipe it says to put the rice in the casserole... I chose to make the rice a seperate side dish and I used Long Grain Wild Rice instead of plain white rice, Erik likes it better and it works better for the flavor profile. I added onion for an additional crunch. I only used a can of cream of chicken soup but added a cup of miracle whip (or mayonnaise) to substitute for the cream of celery and the cream of mushroom soup (Erik can't stand mushrooms). I also used regular milk instead of evaporated milk (about 1/2 a soup can or 5 ounces). I am totally a spices girl and I didn't understand why there were no spices in the recipe so I took a chance (and on the advice of a friend of mine) I add curry powder (one teaspoon, don't want to over do it) and a teaspoon of salt and about 1/2 a teaspoon of pepper.

The Prep: For the most part, this is an extremely easy but still flavorful recipe. Cooking the chicken takes about 30 minutes (cover it with water and put it on the stove on high, once it boils cover it and drop the flame down to medium, cook for 20 minutes, drain, cool, and cut into bite size pieces). While the chicken is cooking chop your onion and your celery and gather the rest of your ingredients. Once the chicken is done mix it with the onion, celery, soup, almonds, salt, pepper, curry, miracle whip (or mayo), and the milk. This process takes about 5-10 minutes. Pour it into a lightly greased casserole dish and bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Make your rice and your broccoli while the casserole is baking. All in all the prep time is about an hour and 15 minutes (it took me two hours yesterday due to frequent time outs called to challenge the referee's decisions, see previous postings for explanation).

The Cost Breakdown:
Chicken: $2.75
Celery: $1.69
Onion: $0.67
Cream of Chicken Soup: $1.49
Slivered almonds: $2.29
Chow Mein Noodles: $1.49
Wild Rice: $1.29
Broccoli: $1.57

* I didn't add in the cost of the salt, pepper, miracle whip, milk, and butter in the broccoli, all of which I had on hand. I also didn't add in the cost of the curry powder ($6.49) because it will be used in other recipes I am sure and I consider spices staples but I wanted you to know that the cost does occasionally come up as I don't stock my spice pantry seperately from my regular pantry.

Total cost: $13.24 or $3.31/person for four people.

I keep expecting these meals to be expensive but they really aren't. Trust me when I tell you that I know its not convienant to cook dinner every night and I get bored and want some one else to do it sometimes so I don't have to. Every once in a while a dinner out is a great reward and an awesome break. When the eating out just becomes convienance its really easy to just do it that way and it becomes a habit, one that is hard (and painful) to break. However I find it harder to face my credit card bill at the end of the month =)

The Verdict: Surprisingly, Erik actually liked this, A LOT. I didn't think that he would between the curry powder, onions (which he dislikes), and the almonds (which he REALLY dislikes) I figured he would tell me it tasted like onions and almonds, or spicy, and that it was a good effort but not his thing. So it floored me when he told me he really liked it and asked for more. I really liked it as well, it was somewhat sweet but not overly so and all of the crunchy items together gave it a satisfying texture that somehow felt filling. I would totally make this again, in a heartbeat, so final analysis? Crunch time! Enjoy! =)