The Boys & Me: Scary good

Scary good

Update * I forgot to tell you to add about a tablespoon of Italian seasonings to the mixture.

I tried a new chicken recipe last night. As Randy said, it was scary good. This meal was so good I want to share the recipe with you. Keep in mind, this is not for anyone on a diet. Scary good, comes with lots of calories.

I found this chicken casserole on Allrecipes.com and read a handful of comments to see how others were changing the recipe so I could create my own version. This helps find out how flexible the recipe is and what the favorite aspects to the meal are.

First I will tell you that I substituted the boneless skinless chicken breast with premium chicken breast strips sold right next to the full breasts on the meat counter. When I cook chicken it is almost always with premium strips because they are easier to eat, cook and in our opinion taste better since we don't like a mouthful of white chicken. If you have the option for organic chicken I recommend buying that. Watch the portion size in organic chicken because you will need to buy two packs if you are cooking for a family of four.

The downside to this meal is that there are a lot of ingredients but I promise it will be worth it. In addition to chicken you will need fresh spinach leaves (I buy the marketside organic in the plastic box), tablespoon of lemon juice, 3 garlic cloves minced, butter, fresh sliced portobello mushrooms, bacon bits, parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, half cup of half and half, one can of cream of mushroom soup and one can of french onion soup. I normally try to not use anything that comes in a can but there are instances where you can't really avoid it. I buy the block cheeses and not the cheese that is already shredded. The block cheese lasts longer, less processed, and tastes better. The bacon bits I used came from our friends, Jamie and Joe, who gave us a freezer saver bag of bacon bits from Tyson. Jamie works for Tyson and they gave us some fabulous meats a few weeks ago. Don't get me started on how delicious the ribs were. When I make this meal again I would fry bacon and crumble it. I am no Martha Stewart but I try not to buy processed foods.

I don't measure everything when cooking since I have enough experience to eye ball it. I will tell you about how much to use in case you don't eye ball ingredients. I cooked the chicken in about two tablespoons of olive oil until they were just about done. Afterward I set them aside. I discarded any extra oil. In the same pan I melted a half stick of butter and sauteed with the spinach leaves (half the box) and sliced mushrooms (a cup). When finished I placed the spinach and mushroom mixture in the bottom of a casserole dish and placed the chicken on top. I then added to the same pan about three tablespoons of butter with lemon juice, garlic, cream of mushroom, french onion soup, half and half and a half cup of parmesan. I let that blend together on low heat until it was nearly at a boil and then poured it over the chicken. I added bacon bits to the top and about a quarter of a cup of mozzarella. Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.

I only used one pan and one casserole dish plus a plate to place the chicken on when I set it aside so the kitchen was very clean when I was done. I didn't serve anything else with the casserole. Everyone liked it so much that I really needed to use more chicken because we had none left over and Randy could have ate more.

I don't normally use half and half but since I bought it for this I have planned another meal that will use the half and half so it doesn't go to waste. All the other leftover ingredients I either normally have or buy regularly.