Well, it looks like I will be only cooking for two, possibly three this Thanksgiving, and I don’t wanna deal with roasting a whole turkey, so I thought that maybe I’d make a casserole instead for the main dish.
I thought something along the lines of a chicken and broccoli casserole? (My friend doesn’t eat red meat).
If you have any suggestions for a delicious chicken-based casserole, I’d be much obliged.
Stick with the turkey…doesn’t get any easier than throwing it in the oven and setting the timer. (Although there was that one year that I forgot to pull out BOTH plastic bags inside the turkey before cooking it…but I digress.)
Or do it a day or two ahead and then make turkey pot pie, turkey salad, turkey tortellini soup (fantastic - check out the Butterball website for that recipe!).
Besides, if your local supermarkets are anything like mine - a 30 pound turkey will still be cheaper than a 1 pound chicken around Thanksgiving time.
Yeah, that’s a good point. A turkey is pretty damn easy. I could make some sort of veggie casserole for a side dish.
You might want to consider getting just a turkey breast–not just the turkey-breasts on a tray in the poulty section, but one wrapped up up like a whole turkey, with skin and all, but just the breast portion. It has worked nicely in the years that my hubby and I shared Thanksgiving with another friend. No drumsticks, though.
Sorry, I don’t have a good chicken casserole recipe, or I’d have offered that, too.
Hey, that’s a great idea! Thanks!
Or, you could also do Cornish Game Hens.
Cooking Light (November 02) just did a Thanksgiving menu for 2 that featured the hens.
Check out www.cookinglight.com and you’ll find more than you ever wanted - I surf over there and come up with loads of recipes to try. I could probably cook for the next 10 years with stuff that sounds good from there. And don’t be afraid of “light” - their recipes are wonderfully tasty.
They’ve had some good side dishes using root veggies, butternut squash, etc. in the last 2 issues. Some are being reviewed on the bulletin boards over there, and sound great for T-day menus.
I have a recipe for a chicken - or- turkey casserole. All the quantities are from memory-- I rarely measure.
Chicken Spaghetti
2-3 cups diced cooked chicken or turkey (hint: if you boil the chicken or turkey carcass - save the broth)
1 med pkg spaghetti (or noodles), cooked in broth
1 onion, diced
3-4 ribs celery, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
1/2 lb fresh sliced mushrooms
1 15oz can tomatoes
1 lb of cheddar cheese, grated (I think it’s a pound, about the size of your hand)
1 can cream of mushroom or cream of chicken soup
1 tbs oil for sauteing
Salt and pepper
Saute the onion, celery, and pepper until onions are translucent. Do not brown. Add the mushrooms, saute for a couple of minutes, then add the tomatoes. Break up the tomatoes with a spoon. Simmer for a few minutes. Put the cooked pasta in a large bowl. Pour the veggies on top, add the soup. Add the chopped chicken. Add 1/2 the grated cheese. Stir to mix, gently so as not to break the pasta too much. If a little dry, add some stock. Pour out into a casserole dish, and cover with remaining cheese. Bake for 30 minutes in a 350° oven or until bubbly. Serve with a salad and crusty french bread.
Fairly easy chicken casserole, and if you’re craving stuffing, it’s got that, too.
4 chicken breasts, or one whole chicken
1 small Pepperidge Farm Herb Stuffing
2 cans Campbell’s Cream of Chicken and Mushroom Soup
1 stick margarine
Boil the chicken, without salt, reserving broth. Debone and deskin the chicken, shredding/chopping as for chicken salad. Meanwhile, melt the stick of butter in a large bowl in the microwave. Add the bag of stuffing, and mix well. In a 9x13 casserole dish, put a layer of the stuffing. Then, add half of the shredded chicken. Mix one can of soup with one can of reserved chicken broth, and pour over the chicken and stuffing. Cover with more stuffing. Add the rest of the chicken, and pour the remaining can of soup diluted with the chicken broth. Top with the rest of the stuffing. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour.
Note: For an even easier recipe, use a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store and canned chicken broth in place of boiling the chicken.