Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

When I put chicken in to marinate on Saturday night (for grilling on Sunday), there were three pieces in the bag that were still too frozen to deal with.  I stuck them in a Zip-loc and stuck that in the fridge, and when Tuesday afternoon came around, I settled down with Pinterest to make those three (small) chicken breasts into a meal plan.

Enter this Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti Casserole.

I knew from the outset that I needed to lighten it up a bit, because GENETICALLY HIGH CHOLESTEROL.  (It stinks.)  I was already skimping on the meat, since I only had so much thawed and I wasn’t going to trouble myself to grab more; next on the chopping block was the 16 oz of sour cream.  I decided that I could probably stand to cut that down in the first place, and to substitute plain yogurt for some of it besides.  (Baked with seasonings, it doesn’t make that much of a difference.)  I ended up using about a cup of plain yogurt and maybe half a cup of sour cream, which worked just fine.  I also used this Homemade Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup recipe from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe, because it’s a slurry that uses no butter.  (I made it with half whole wheat flour, too.)  The casserole itself still had a stick of melted butter–lovely, lovely butter!–and a decent amount of cheese, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been,  you know?  My house was QUITE divided, with my older girls giving it thumbs down and my littles telling me “two thumbs up!”  The former didn’t shock me–the oldest has never loved that flavor profile, and my second is my pickiest eater–but the level of enthusiasm from the others surprised me.  I enjoyed it as well, although it’s a bit different from my usual fare, but next time I won’t skimp on the chicken.  (There will likely be a next time, though).  If you find yourself needing to turn some stray chicken breasts into dinner for 6, give it a try!