Chicken Divan

Ah, Chicken Divan... when I was little I must admit that I threw a little bit of a fit when mom said this was for dinner. I guess I had a picky palate-- at least when it came to broccoli. I hadn't eaten it for a few years when my sister made it once while I was in college. I was so surprised! How could I not have liked this? How can anyone not like something smothered in cream of chicken soup and mayo and topped with cheese? Needless to say, I've been converted to Chicken Divan. 

Before we start you'll want to boil or bake your chicken breasts (I generally use this method) and chop them into little 1" by 1" squares.

You can see the full recipe below. All right, here's what you'll need:

Spray the bottom of a 9x13 pan with cooking spray and spread our your broccoli as the bottom layer. There is no need to have previously thawed the broccoli, just put it in frozen.

As your second layer, spread your chopped chicken over the broccoli. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and paprika.

Now lets make the sauce! Combine all your cream of chicken soup, mayonnaise, curry powder and lemon juice in a medium bowl.

Spread that mixture over the chicken and broccoli.

Now, top it with your cheese. Mmmm, cheese.

Baked at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Voilà! This goes best served over rice!

Ingredients:

5 chicken breasts, thawed, cooked and chopped
2 (10 oz) or 1 large bag frozen broccoli
3 cans Cream of Chicken soup
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 tsp curry powder
2 tbsp lemon juice
salt
pepper
paprika
2 cups monterey jack cheese

1. Spray 9x13 pan with cooking spray and spread frozen broccoli on the bottom.
2. Cover broccoli with chopped chicken and sprinkle salt, pepper and paprika.
3. Combine soup, mayo, curry powder and lemon juice in a medium bowl.
4. Spread mixture over chicken and broccoli.
5. Top with cheese.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Serve over rice.

Cheesy Potatoes

Okay. Christmas came and threw me off my schedule and so I've had the pictures for this recipe sitting here on the computer for about a month... woops. I love these cheesy potatoes! My mom makes them for all our big holiday dinners: Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter. So good and so easy! See below for full recipe. Here's what you'll need:

Okay, first you need to melt your butter and then chop your green onions.

Then mix melted butter, soup, sour cream, cheese and green onions together.

Add the frozen hash browns to the cheesy mixture.

Place in a 9 x 13 pan. You will also need to process/smash your cornflake crumbs if you are using it from the cereal instead of buying the crumbs pre-processed. I have done it both ways. To smash, you can put the cornflakes in a big Ziploc bag and use a rolling pin to crush them to crumbs. I much prefer the food processor.

Pour the cornflake crumbs over the cheesy potatoes and then pour the 2 Tbsp. of melted butter over them.

Cook at 350 degrees for 1 hour. This is so cheesy and delicious!

Ingredients:

32 oz. bag of frozen shredded hash browns
1/2 C. melted butter
2 cans Cream of Chicken soup
1 pt. sour cream
1 1/2 C. shredded cheddar cheese
1/3 C. green onions, chopped
1 C. cornflake crumbs
2 Tbsp. melted butter

1. Mix 1/2 C. melted butter, soup, sour cream, cheese and green onions together.
2. Mix frozen potatoes in with this mixture.
3. Pour in to a 9 x 13".
4. Sprinkle cornflakes over top and then pour 2 Tbsp. butter over top of cornflakes.
5. Cook at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
6. Devour.

Smith Chicken Enchiladas

Remember that post, not too long ago where I mentioned that Bryan and I grew up with different enchilada recipes that we both loved? Well, here is the recipe that I grew up with! I know this recipe like the back of my hand, I've made it so many times.See below for full recipe. You'll need:

You can find green chilies in the Hispanic food aisle. Canned chicken must be drained before use. Mix only one can of the Cream of Chicken soup, both cans of chicken, sour cream and green chilies together.

I have a little trick to make it easier to roll corn tortillas without frying them. About five at a time, put them on a little plate with a damp paper towel over them and heat in the microwave for 15-30 seconds.

I fill and roll the tortillas as each batch of five comes out of the microwave so they don't harden again. Spoon about a tablespoon of the chicken mixture onto the tortilla and roll. You will probably use 13-16 tortillas, depending on how tightly packed each roll is.

Place tightly next to each other in 9 x 13 casserole dish. After filling all of them, there should still be chicken mixture left over. There will be a little corner that I usually split a tortilla in half and put half the amount of mixture in, as pictured above. 

Mix the remaining can of Cream of Chicken soup with the rest of the chicken mixture.

Spread across the rolled tortillas.

Use the whole bag of Mexican mix cheese and cover the the enchiladas. Chop your green onions and sprinkle them over the top as well and then sprinkle the sliced black olives (these are my favorite part!).

Ta da!

We usually cut them like squares rather than serving by enchiladas. Because of this, Bryan calls it "Enchilada Casserole."

Ingredients:

2 cans Cream of Chicken soup

8 oz. sour cream

1 sm. can green chilies

2 cans diced chicken

1 pkg. small corn tortillas

1 bag (2 cups)  Mexican mix cheese

1 bunch green onions

1 sm. can sliced black olives

1. Mix one can Cream of Chicken soup, both cans chicken, sour cream and green chilies in a medium to large bowl.
2. Soften tortillas using the above method or frying.
3. Spoon about a tablespoon of mixture into each tortilla and roll.
4. Place tortilla rolls side by side, tightly in 9 x 13 casserole dish.
5. Mix second can of Cream of Chicken soup with remaining mixture and spread over the tortillas.
6. Spread cheese over top, followed by chopped green onions and sliced black olives.
7. Cook at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

Killer Rice Casserole

This was one of Bryan's favorite meals that his mom made while he was growing up. It was printed in a magazine/newspaper (he can't remember which) as, simply, "Rice Casserole." However, it kept being described in the article as a "killer" recipe and they definitely found it to be so after giving it a try. So, it was dubbed "Killer Rice Casserole." He told me that his mom lost the recipe for several years and when she finally found it again and made it, it was still delicious as remembered. This recipe lives up to the "killer" hype!

See the end for the full recipe. Here's what you'll need:

(you can see I was getting pretty low on rice...)

The first thing you'll want to do is to cook your rice. I always find it helps to let your rice rest a while after it is done cooking, so whipping up the rest of this recipe gives it ample resting time.

Next... Yes, I know this picture is terrible quality... and you probably all know what it means to chop an onion, but I thought I'd throw it in anyway. So go ahead and chop your onion! (You'll probably want to preheat your oven to 350 degrees at this point as well.)

Melt a stick of butter in a skillet over medium to med-high heat.

Stir in the chopped onions and sauté until they become translucent.

Then, add the sour cream, cottage cheese, salt, pepper and cooked rice (everything but the cheese and green chilies) and fold the mixture together gently.

This is just a picture of the end result after it has been folded gently.

Take one third of that mixture and spread it across the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking dish.

Now take half of your cheese and spread that in a layer over the rice mixture.

Now take half of you green chilies and sprinkle them on top of the cheese. After this, take half of the remaining rice mixture and spread another layer over the cheese/chilies. Spread the rest of the cheese on top and follow with the rest of the green chilies. Now, spread the last of the rice mixture over the top for your final layer.

Cover this with foil and bake for one hour at 350 degrees.

Hurray for cheesy goodness! I should mention that Bryan's Aunt Jeanette put together a Whitney/Gillmore family cookbook and marked all of Bryan's favorite recipes as a present for my bridal shower. It was a great idea and I've really cherished it. It's great to add a whole new set of favorite recipes to my own.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 C. uncooked rice
1 stick butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1 (8 oz.) carton sour cream
1 (8 oz.) carton cottage cheese, small curd
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. pepper
2 C. grated cheddar cheese
1 can chopped green chilies, drained

1. Cook rice, set aside.
2. Melt butter in a skillet and sauté onion until translucent.
3. Add cooked rice, sour cream, cottage cheese, salt and pepper and gently fold everything together.
4. Spread one third of this mixture on the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking dish.
5. Top with half of the cheese and half of the green chilies.
6. Put another of the third of the rice as another layer (half of what is left of the rice).
7. Top with remaining cheese and then remaining chilies. Spread the rest of the rice on top as the final layer.
8. Cover with foil and cook for one hour at 350 degrees.