Saved by Cooking Ahead

A few weeks back several coworkers and I purchased chicken from local distributor, H&L from Pelham.  We do this occasionally and I bought my usual, a 10 pound bag of chicken tenders.  This is great quality chicken and the tenders are easier for me to handle/cut up due to my "issues" with my right hand.

I brought the chicken home from work on my lunch hour and divied it up into several bags for the freezer, mixed up the previous crock pot teriyaki chicken and I boiled about 2lbs.  I seasoned the chicken with a little garlic salt, black pepper and dehydrated onions.

After the chicken cooled, I shredded it with forks and put in a freezer bag.  I also froze the chicken broth because it will soon be potato soup weather.  (Hint to the coworkers.)  The broth is seasoned lightly and lower in sodium than store bought.

When I ask the girls what would you like to choose to go on our dinner calendar, I get the same three answers.  Maddie wants chicken enchiladas, Carlee wants chicken broccoli casserole and AnnaBelle wants homemade Mexican.  So we go through a lot of chicken.

At Carlee's request, Tuesday night was chicken broccoli casserole.  The last few weeks have been long ones.  Work, homework, cross country and football have about tuckered me out. The thought of having to completely pull together a meal taxed my frazzled brain even more.

Lucky for me, I had cooked ahead!  I took the  frozen chicken and one 4 cup container of broth out of the freezer Tuesday morning.  It defrosted during the day.  It was so nice to come home to ingredients, ready to go.  No cooking chicken and no chopping!!

I threw the casserole together after we came in from cross country practice.  It takes about 10 minutes to mix together and about 30ish to cook.  I made a very large dish, 11 X 17ish, because the girls like to take leftovers for lunch.  While it cooked, Carlee studied.

Ingredients:
3 to 4 cups shredded chicken
4 cups chicken broth
1 large bag broccoli florets
cheddar jack cheese (1 cup)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayo
ritz crackers
margarine
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Place cooked/shredded chicken in large glass baking dish.
2. Microwave broccoli for 6-8 minutes and cover chicken.
3. While the broccoli cooks, whisk together chicken broth, soup, sour cream and mayo.
4. Evenly spread broccoli over the chicken.
5. Add the cheese and spread over broccoli. (use more or less)
6. Pour soup mixture over evenly over the dish.
7. Top with crumbled crackers and pat with margarine.
8. Cook for 25-30 minutes until topping is brown.

The liquid ingredients are a guesstimate.  If you don't think you have enough liquid to cover you dish, use additional broth, sour cream or mayonnaise.

Serve over rice.  For school lunch leftovers, I place rice in the bottom of a small container then add the casserole.  This is a major hit with Carlee, the picky eater.  If we have any extra leftovers are saved for a few nights later. 

Bonus:  These leftovers are also great to freeze in a small container for Scott.  He can defrost and reheat on the road in the big truck.  He so rarely gets a home cooked meal and enjoys his from home frozen dinners!