Chicken Noodle Casserole



http://www.flickr.com/, photo by Jannie-Jan



I used to survive on the "Helper" meals. Chicken Helper, Tuna Helper, Hamburger Helper... I didn't even buy them because they were cheap. I bought them because I liked them. Okay, I loved them.

Sadly, they were the first thing to go when we said goodbye to refined foods.

I really, really missed those creamy, noodly dishes, but at 560 mg of sodium per serving, not to mention maltodextrin, partially hygrodenated soybean oil (trans fat), artificial coloring, added sugar, and more, that fun little waving glove had to go.

Just a couple of months ago, though, I came across a homemade creamy chicken noodle dish in the "Delicious on a Dollar" section of Better Homes and Gardens (Feb. 2012 issue). The first time I made it, I didn't read the entire recipe through before cooking, so let me give the rest of you a helpful hint: This is not a hard recipe, but it is extremely helpful to know which steps are coming before you start! The recipe's author does a great job of reusing ingredients to keep expenditures low, but doing so involves several steps to make the recipe.

You will likely have some yummy leftovers from this recipe. It makes a pretty big dish. A couple of weeks ago, I doubled it to share meals with friends, and the doubled recipe fed 4 families--and we still had leftovers!

Note: The recipe below calls for celery and onion. My kids wouldn't eat it with those ingredients, so I skipped the celery altogether and substituted onion powder for the chopped onion. Feel free to play around with the ingredients and use ones your family will enjoy. I've also considered adding some vegetables, but for now, I just serve the veggies on the side.

Chicken Noodle Casserole

Ingredients:
(I've substituted a few ingredients to make this recipe less refined)
4 stalks celery, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 of a chicken or 2 lbs. legs/thighs
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. salt
1 slice Ezekiel bread
1 12 oz. pkg whole wheat egg noodles*
8 oz. sour cream dip**
2 Tbsp. whole wheat flour
Olive oil cooking spray (I use the Misto)
2 Tbsp. parsley

Directions:
Place the chicken in a slow cooker. Add 6 cups of water, 2/3 of the onion and celery, and the salt, pepper, and thyme. Cook until done. (Tip: Put your chicken in the slow cooker first thing in the morning, then pull it out when you're ready to make your supper.) If you can't fit the water in the slow cooker, you can always add it later after you pull the chicken out.

When the chicken finishes cooking, take it out of the slow cooker with a slotted spoon and set it on a plate to cool. While it is cooling, tear the bread into small pieces and toss it in a bowl with the remaining celery and onion. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 375.

Pour the remaining broth from the slow cooker into a very large saucepan and add the egg noodles. Add extra water if necessary to cover the noodles. Boil the noodles until tender.

While the noodles are boiling, whisk together the sour cream dip** and flour in a medium saucepan. When you finish using the broth to cook the noodles, pour 1 cup of the broth into the saucepan and whisk it together with the dip and flour mixture until smooth. Cook and stir over medium heat until it boils.
While it is cooking, pull the meat from 1/2 of the chicken and add to the cooked noodles in a large bowl. Once the sauce boils, add it to the chicken and noodles and stir together. Pour the entire mixture into a large baking dish. Sprinkle the bread/onion/celery mixture over the top, then lightly coat the casserole with the olive oil spray.
Bake, uncovered, for 30-35 minutes until heated through and topping begins to brown. Top with parsley just before serving.

*I had a hard time finding 100% whole wheat egg noodles. Even the Healthy Harvest "whole wheat" egg noodles were only about half whole wheat, half refined. I ended up finding the 100% whole wheat noodles at Wal-Mart. The "Great Value" brand, at $1.00, was the only one that was actually 100% whole wheat!

** To make your own sour cream dip, combine the following:
8 oz. sour cream
1/2 Tbsp. parsley
1/2 Tbsp. onion powder or minced onion
1/2 Tbsp. seasoned salt
1/2 tsp. dill weed
dash of garlic powder