Easy Chicken Divan

This is such a simple, yet delicious casserole to whip up, and I'm going to share one tip that will make it even easier. Buy a rotisserie chicken from Costco or your local deli! Pick the meat off the bone (depending on the size of the bird, you should get enough white and dark meat for two or three meals), then place the shredded chicken in small freezer bags to thaw and use as needed. 

EASY CHICKEN DIVAN

Ingredients-

2-3 cups COOKED broccoli (fresh or frozen) *
2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 Tablespoon lemon juice (about 1/2 lemon)
3/4 tea. curry powder
3/4 tea. salt
dash pepper
1 sleeve Ritz crackers
1/4 cup melted butter

* If your family doesn't care for broccoli, 2 cans drained French Style Green Beans would be a good substitute.

Directions- 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook broccoli until tender. Arrange stalks in lightly greased 
9x13 baking dish. Place shredded chicken on top. In a large bowl, combine soup, mayonnaise, sour cream, lemon juice, curry, salt and pepper. Spoon over chicken. Combine crackers and melted butter in food processor until crushed. Sprinkle over top. 

Bake, uncovered, 30 minutes or until warmed through and cracker topping is golden brown.

Need more ideas of what to cook with your Costco rotisserie chicken? Try Chicken Alfredo Lasagna Roll-Ups, or Chicken Bow Tie Salad, or substitute chicken for the turkey in this Turkey Pot Pie recipe. 

How to Make THE Best Deviled Eggs

There are a couple of different occasions when our family enjoys eating deviled eggs. The obvious one is Easter and the other, maybe not so obvious, is when sloppy joes are on the menu for dinner. Like peanut butter and jelly, chips and dip or cake and ice cream, deviled eggs and sloppy joes are just two foods that Cody (my son with autism) insists go hand in hand.

There are two key ingredients in my deviled eggs that make them "the best"...

#1- Miracle Whip (along with Mayo) 

You may use any brand of mayonnaise that you'd like, but do not substitute
salad dressing for Miracle Whip. It will not taste as good. Trust me on this.

#2- Sweet Pickle Juice

Any brand of sweet pickles will do. Remember, you are only using the juice.

Deviled Eggs   

14 eggs- hard boiled, cooled and shelled 

1/3 cup Miracle Whip

1/3 cup Mayonnaise

1/2 teaspoon mustard

2 Tablespoons Sweet Pickle juice

1/2 teaspoon salt (no more or they will be too salty)

pepper- dash

yellow food coloring- optional

paprika- for garnish

Remove yolks from hard boiled eggs and place in food processor with all ingredients except paprika. Mix until smooth and fluffy. 

Discard the whites of two eggs, but fill remaining 24 egg halves with  mixture. Garnish with paprika and keep refrigerated. 

I spooned the yolk mixture into the egg whites for quick eating.
However, if you would like to make the eggs look prettier, use your
favorite icing tool and pipe the yolk mixture into the egg whites.

Yields: 2 dozen 

Tip to Prevent Pie Crust Edges from Burning and Bonus Turkey Pie Recipe

As I was getting ready to put foil around the edge of a pie I was about to put in the oven, the thought occurred to me to share my tip on how to prevent pie crust edges from browning too fast.

When I was a young cook, I use to cut up long strips of foil and try to arrange them around the pie. This always frustrated me because the foil would either fall off or end up sticking to the crust. I don't remember where I learned the following technique, but it is pure genius... and easy. Basically, if you know how to cut a snowflake out of paper, you can do this.

First you need to tear off a piece of aluminum foil that is approximately the size of your pie.

Then fold the foil in half so it looks like this...

Fold once more into a square.

Take your scissors and cut the folded corner.

Open it up. 

Gently set the foil on top of your pie and carefully turn the edges under. 

Now you are ready to place your pie in the oven. While baking, the crust edges will not burn and the center of the pie will become golden brown. 

Turkey Pie

I have never been one to make pie crust from scratch and I'll tell you why. The first year I was married, I brought a Lemon Meringue Pie made with a Pillsbury crust to Thanksgiving dinner. When my grandma (known for her perfectly flaky pie crusts) tasted my pie, she complimented me saying I had done a wonderful job, especially on the crust. I figured if Pillsbury could fool grandma, why even try making crust from scratch?! I am not ashamed to admit that I've used refrigerated pie crusts ever since. 

Ingredients

2 Pillsbury Pie Crusts (or equivalent store name brand) 

Filling-
2 cups shredded turkey
1 cup shredded potato (I have used frozen hash browns, thawed.)
1 small package frozen mixed vegetables
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 eggs
1 cup mozzarella cheese
1 tea. dried basil
1 tea. garlic powder
1/2 tea. black pepper
1 tea. salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine all ingredients in large bowl. Stir until well blended. Spoon into pie crust. Place top crust over filling. Crimp the edge and create air holes (I had already made my pie before I decided to show it on my blog. Hence, the crusts edge is not as pretty as it could have been. (See the short video below for some decorative ideas.) Bake 50-55 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with your favorite gravy.

11 Tried and True Kitchen Tips

1) Line measuring cups with plastic wrap before filling with sticky, gooey ingredients like peanut butter and shortening. The cups will be easier to clean.

2) When making cookie dough, no need to mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients in separate bowls. Combine wet ingredients as directed, then mix in baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices before adding flour.

3) Cut brownies with a plastic knife. I promise it will work like a charm and, once you try this, you'll never cut them any other way.

4) Spread jelly and jam with a spoon instead of a knife.

5) Vegetables and fruits will stay fresh longer if you line produce drawers with newspaper instead of paper towels.

6) Brown sugar remains lump free if you keep it in the refrigerator produce drawer.

7) Recycled Parmesan cheese containers are great for storing/sprinkling powdered sugar.

8) Cream will whip lighter and fluffier if you chill the bowl and beaters in the freezer beforehand.

9) Buy Sharp cheddar cheese. Because of the strong flavor, you can get away with using less in recipes and stretch your dollar.

10) For better flavor, add a little Sweet pickle juice to deviled eggs and homemade potato salad.

11) Always soak wooden skewers before using, to prevent them from burning on the grill.