How’s everyone doing? How’s everyone’s food stash? Are you playing Chopped in your own kitchen yet? Here’s an easy casserole “bake” that I made a few days ago with a random box of stuffing I’m pretty sure I’ve had in my pantry since Thanksgiving? I usually make stuffing from scratch, but always have a back up box in case something goes wrong (I’m in the “I burn bread in the broiler 99% of the time club” - are you?).

So if you have a random bag or box of stuffing, or even just old bread make some croutons and whip this up. Same thing for the veggies, I had half a bag of mixed veg in my freezer, but if all you have is canned throw that in too.

For a “quarantine food” (oh man, is that a new type of cuisine or what), this was pretty darn good! Emilia clobbered it up and we enjoyed the leftovers for lunch for a few days. Use this recipe as a guide based on what you have and feed your people! Bonus points for this being something you can prep during nap time/quite time and throw in and eat when you’re ready.

Chicken Stuffing Bake

Total Time: 45-60 minutes Hands-On Time: 15 minutes Serves: 6-8 (depending on size of humans)

Ingredients:

1 box (6oz) of stuffing mix or dried seasoned croutons (I used Stove Top Reduced Sodium, but use what you have)
1 Cup hot water or hot broth (broth will give you more flavor)
1 lb. uncooked chicken breasts diced into bite size pieces
1 can (10.5oz) cream of chicken soup (can use cream of mushroom or cream of celery)
1/2 Cup sour cream (can use milk, cream, or mayo instead - its just to dilute the soup some)
1-2 teaspoon(s) poultry seasoning (or any and all of dried sage, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder. Use more seasoning if you’re using plain bread and not a box stuffing mix)
1 - 2 Cups frozen mixed vegetables (use two cans DRAINED of any veggies instead of frozen)
Olive Oil Spray
Salt and Pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
In a bowl, combine stuffing/bread cubes with the hot water or broth. You just need enough liquid to SLIGHTLY saturate the bread.
In a separate small bowl, combine the soup, sour cream and poultry seasoning. If you don’t have sour cream, use one of the substitutions I recommended. You just need enough to dilute the soup a little and get a little bit more out of the one can of soup.
In a glass or ceramic casserole dish (I used a 9X13 glass pan), arrange the chicken breast pieces in an even layer. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.
Add frozen or canned veggies on top of/around chicken. If using frozen, let them thaw a little so the casserole doesn’t get too watery. If using canned, drain them first.
Place dollops of the soup/sauce mixture on top of the chicken and vegetables and spread it out.
Sprinkle the stuffing on top. Spray the top lightly with olive oil spray.
Bake for 30-45 minutes until chicken is cooked through and casserole “sets” a little (mine took 35 min, but will depend on how small you cut your chicken). Broil for a final two minutes to get a good crust on top.
Let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

This is a meal all on it’s own, but I served it along side some brussels sprouts I roasted before they could go bad. You could do a side salad or some toasted bread too. An easy, comforting casserole is what we all need right now, am I right?

We are enjoying more family dinners together and otherwise flying by the seat of our pants. Hang in there, y’all!