One Of Our Favorite Family Dinners – Chicken Casserole & Creamed Corn

It’s your lucky day! Your reward for stopping by today is not ONE….but TWO delicious recipes! Well, at least WE think they are delicious! As a matter of fact…they are two of our family’s FAVORITE dishes! In honor of my mother-in-law Dorothy…I’m sharing HER recipe for Chicken Casserole. I’ve been meaning to post this for the longest time but just haven’t gotten around to it. It is hands down one of our family’s FAVORITE meals.

Try not to be intimidated by its’ fancy name. :-) That’s what it says at the top of the recipe card I got from my mother-in-law some 20+ years ago. I’ve seen it on other blogs with names like Poppyseed Chicken Casserole and Chicken and Ritz Casserole….but we’re simple folk and ours is just…Chicken Casserole (but feel free to call it whatever you like!)

The second recipe is one we are EQUALLY fond of…..Creamed Corn. Again, I apologize for the lackluster name…but I guess our family is more concerned with eating stuff than naming it. :-) This is actually a dish I traditionally serve at our family Christmas party with my Foolproof Prime Rib..and this year I almost FORGOT to make it!

I was checking out at the grocery store with my Prime Rib Roast and the cashier mentioned how she usually makes creamed corn when she cooks Prime Rib. I almost fainted! If I had forgotten the creamed corn….I would have had a mutiny on my hands. :-) But out of this near disaster…I managed to get a few pointers from my friend Karyn the cashier that made it the best creamed corn we’ve ever had! My family was oooooing and ahhhhing over it, even though we have it every year.

Chicken Casserole

Ingredients:

• 4-5 chicken breasts
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed (about 30 crackers)
• 8 Tbsp butter, melted
• 1 Tbsp poppy seeds (optional)

Directions:

Cook the chicken in a little bit of oil in a saute/frying pan on the stove. (I usually cook with my “house” seasoning of garlic powder, onion powder, dried parsley flakes, and salt and pepper.)

When cooked through, cut the chicken into bite-size pieces and place them in a 9×13″ oven-safe baking dish.

Mix cream of chicken soup and sour cream and spread over chicken.

Put the crackers in a ziplock bag and crush them with a rolling pin. Spread the crushed crackers over the soup and sour cream mixture, then drizzle the melted butter over the top. Sprinkle poppy seeds on top, if desired.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.

Note: For my son with Celiac’s I prepare a separate portion in a small dish with gluten-free Glutino crackers on top.

This is my youngest’s all-time FAVORITE dish….bar none. He was not the least bit impressed with the Prime Rib…but tonight when he asked what I was making for dinner and I told him….his exact words (word?) were….”Yesssssssss!!!!!” :-)

Creamed Corn

Ingredients:

• 24 ounces frozen shoepeg corn
• 8 oz heavy cream
• 8 oz milk
• 1 tsp salt
• 6 tsp sugar
• 2 Tbsp butter, melted
• 2 Tbsp flour (or cornstarch)
• Pinch of white pepper
• 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Put corn, cream, milk, salt, and sugar in saucepan and bring to a boil. (At first it will be a solid frozen mass….just give it time….it will warm up and liquify)

Melt butter in microwave and add flour to make a roux (thickener). Will be the consistency of paste.

Mix this into the corn. Continue to cook until thickened. Add pepper. Pour into casserole dish (9 x 13 if you doubled it) and top with Parmesan cheese. Put into 350 degree oven for 20 minutes (or until cheese is good and melted!)

I have made this recipe for years to rave reviews….but substituting regular frozen corn with the shoepeg corn and adding the Parmesan cheese…made it even better!

What are your family’s favorite meals?