Creamy Chicken Noodle Casserole

Helllllllooooooooooo, blessed be the weekend! ;-).  Hope everyone is doing great.  I made this casserole for the first time for dinner last night and all my Asylum residents enjoyed, a lot!  We all went back for seconds.  I can only hope you are as lucky with it!  It calls for chicken breasts, I used two cans of chunk chicken in water.  I didn't have the thyme twig so I used dried. Enjoy the weekend!

Creamy Chicken Noodle Casserole

6 oz (2.5 Cups) No Yolks Extra Broad Noodles
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 8 oz sliced fresh mushrooms (2 Cups) I used cremini.
2 ribs celery, chopped
3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
1 small onion, chopped
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 32 oz chicken broth
1 thyme sprig (I used a little over a teaspoon)
1 8 oz light cream cheese, softened
1/2 Cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1 1/2 Tablespoons all purpose flour
2 cooked chicken breasts, chopped (about 2 Cups) I used canned

Topping:

1 Cup panko bread crumbs
1 Tablespoon butter, melted
Salt and Pepper to taste

Combine topping ingredients and set aside.

Preheat oven to 400°.  Add olive oil to a 7 quart stock pot and saute mushrooms, celery, carrots, onions and garlic powder for 3-4 minutes over medium heat.  Add chicken broth and thyme sprig and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.  Add cream cheese, parmesan and noodles.  Stir until well blended.  Sprinkle flour over top of mixture.  Stir and cook for 1-2 minutes or until mixture begins to thicken.  Fold in chicken.  Pour into a 3 quart casserole dish.  Sprinkle on reserved topping mixture.  Bake uncovered 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes.  Serves 6-8.


The standing at the end is important as it helps to thicken the sauce!  See ya next week!