Easy Vege-Chicken & Mac Casserole

Here's another vege-chicken casserole you can throw together from miscellaneous stuff you have in your cabinet. I added a box of spiral twist mac & cheese and a cup of fusilli or corkscrew pasta and onions and mushrooms. It can be made up and then baked at the church or baked ahead of time and heated in the microwave. As with most casseroles, it actually tastes a little better after it sits overnight in the fridge. There are several options you can try if you are missing an ingredient or have something extra you might want to pitch in. The recipe's flexible.



Ingredients:

• 1 can Loma Linda Chik'n Chunks, Worthington Fri-Chik, Worthington Diced Chik, Loma Linda Fried Chik'n
• 1 can cream of mushroom or cream of celery soup
• 1 box spiral mac and cheese (or any variety mac & cheese kit)
• 1 cup fusilli pasta
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine (to prepare mac & cheese mix)
• 1/4 cup milk (to prepare mac & cheese mix)
• 1 tbsp Tony's Cajun seasoning or New Orleans Style seasoning
• 1/2 onion chopped and/or green pepper
• 1/2 cup diced mushrooms
• 3/4 cup dried bread crumbs, crushed tortilla chips or crackers
• Sliced or chopped olives

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. 
2. Boil water and add macaroni from mac & cheese box and a cup of fusilli (twisted) pasta 
3. In a small frying panSautee the onions, mushrooms and other veggies lightly, then add diced vege-chicken and cook thoroughly. Once cooked, drain off excess fluid
4. Mixed up macaroni, butter, milk and cheese sauce mix from mac & cheese kit in a bowl.
5. Fold in the onion/mushroom/vegechicken mix.
6. Add can of mushroom or celery soup and stir into the mix.
7. Spread mixture over the bottom of an ungreased 13 x 9-inch baking dish.
8. Cover the top of the mixture with bread crumbs, crushed tortilla chips or crackers
9. Top with diced or sliced olives
10. Bake 30 minutes or until bubbly.

Serving Suggestion:

This is another one that's easy to make on Friday and take to potluck on Sabbath. Proportions of ingredients are not critical and since you already cook all the ingredients before putting it in the casserole, you don't have to worry about it being done. It reheats really well Cover it with aluminum foil for storage and transport. For the sample dish I used seasoned bread crumbs, but you can also use unseasoned ones and adjust the seasoning to taste. It's easy to prepare and hard to mess up.

© 2016 by Tom King