CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP CASSEROLE: for 2

I love a good casserole, especially if I assemble it when I have a lot of time and then bake it off for a quick week night dinner when I’m in a time crunch. Last week I saw a recipe for Chicken Soup Casserole on the tasty kitchen blog that I knew I had to try…I mean I love chicken soup and I love casseroles so HELLO – sounds perfect! And man was this delicious and simple. The recipe called for boiled chicken, but honestly I just can’t do boiled chicken…looking at it while it’s boiling just kind of grosses me out and I feel like it doesn’t have any flavor. So I baked my chicken after I sprinkled it with dried Italian herbs and it worked great. Also, the recipe said bake in a 9x13 pan, and well let’s be honest that’s a little bit, ok a lot a bit too much food for 2 people, so I baked half of it in a 9 inch pie pan and froze the other half to bake next week some time. HOORAY – 2 easy dinners! With some roasted broccoli, it was the perfect meal. This recipe is really a great starter, you can use any veggies you like and omit any that you don’t; next time I'm adding some sliced mushrooms. Hope you like it!

Sincerely Loving Food,
Lainey

CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP CASSEROLE
4 Chicken Breast (or 3 if they are really large)
12 ounces of Egg Noodles (I used whole wheat)
1 Onion
8-10 baby carrots (or 2 large carrots)
2-3 celery stalks
½ stick of butter
1 Can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 Can condensed cream of chicken soup
½ C sour cream
¼ C chicken stock (water can be substituted in a pinch)
2 tbl dried Italian seasoning
1 sleeve Ritz crackers

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sprinkle chicken breast with salt, pepper, and 1 tbl of Italian seasoning and a little olive oil. Place on a cookie sheet and bake 30-45 minutes or until just cooked through. In the meantime chop the onion, carrots and garlic and boil the noodles to just al dente, about 5 minutes. Sautee the veggies in the butter over medium-high heat until they begin to soften, about 10 minutes. In a large bowl, stir together the cans of soup, sour cream, chicken stock, and reserve Italian seasoning with a little salt and pepper. As they are finished add the noodles and veggies to the bowl. Once the chicken is cooked and cool enough to handle, chop into bite sized pieces and stir in with everything else. Pour mixture into one 9X13 baking dish or 2: 9 inch pie pans (one can be frozen for later use). Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, remove add crushed crackers to the top and bake for an additional 5 to 10 minutes. Enjoy!

Sorry about the odd shadow in the pic...

Adapted from 4littlefergusons at the Tasty Kitchen