Time flies when your eating well my friends!
It has been awhile since I shared one of my favorite recipes so I thought now that spring is springing it was time to share one that has been in our family for generations and adored by all. When I say 'all' I include my children who are some of the pickiest eaters in the world. This is even considered a casserole and they like it....even though we don't tell them it's a casserole.
It is called Chicken Divan (although it could be called chicken divine!)
Growing up in the 70's it seemed like casseroles were the in thing. It felt like a few times a week my mother would make a tuna casserole or some beef stroganoff dish. Probably because there were plenty of left overs to heat up the next night (the reason there were so many left overs is no body ate it the first night). Needless to say I did not look forward to casserole nights.
But I remember always liking Chicken Divan. The flavor of this dish over a bed of rice gets me emotional just thinking about it. Enough weeping! Here's the recipe:
CHICKEN DIVAN
2 10oz packages of broccoli
2 cups cooked, diced chicken
2 10 1/2 oz cream of chicken soup
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (sharp is best)
1 cup bread crumbs (just your basic large dried bread crumbs)
Cook broccoli until tender and arrange in greased 9x13 pan. Layer cooked chicken on top. Combine next 3 ingredients and pour over chicken. Sprinkle with cheese, then bread crumbs. Bake at 350 for 35 min.
As I mentioned before we like to make some white rice and then pour this over it. I add a little soy sauce to the rice first for a little extra flavor but you don't have to.
Think about it. If your kids can like something with broccoli in it you've won a major battle as a parent. It has your 4 basic food groups represented which is a home run in the cooking world. This is even good as a left over dinner as it heats up well in the microwave without the chicken getting tough.
So give this a go and let me know what you think as if you don't like it you can blame the 70's as that decade ruined my taste buds.
Enjoy!
