We have had some pretty mild temperatures in Maryland since we returned from Aruba. My husband loves it, me; not so much! I love the seasons and love a good snow storm. The only good one we had was in January and I was away. This past week has been all that winter promises and the temperatures have plummeted to freezing, reminding us it is not yet Spring. St Patrick’s and Easter are upon us however, and soon enough the natural order of things will take place as before.

My husband owns a window and door business, Eastern Shore Windows and Doors. Spring also brings a time to renew and replace. It also brings the “Home Shows”. In the event you have no idea what that is I will enlighten you. Multiple vendors and purveyors of things congregate to help you make your homes and yards beautiful again. The Timonium home show in Baltimore has begun and runs for two weekends. You can find things like, windows and doors. You can also find, storage systems for your garage. Gutter systems, flooring, you name it, you can find it. So for the next few weekends I will be a “Home Show Widow”, for lack of a better description. Finding myself alone on the weekends, I turn to what I love, cooking, and rearranging my home for Spring.

After putting away all of the rememberances of winter I turned to my cookbooks and recipes. I made a wonderful chicken casserole yesterday that I want to share with you. It makes particularly good use of the crock pot chicken recipe that I shared with you. It’s very light, and healthy. It is also very filling. Those of you watching your weight for bathing suit season will love it. It makes six large portions and each serving is only 9 Smart Points if you are a Weight Watcher.

CHICKEN VEGETABLE CASSEROLE

• 12 oz cooked, diced, chicken breasts
• 2 Tbsp all purpose flour
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 10 oz skim milk
• 1 pinch white pepper
• 2 tsp poultry seasoning
• 1 wedge laughing cow white cheddar cheese
• 7 oz Penne pasta (I used wheat)
• 2 peppers, 1 red, 1 yellow, chopped
• 1 zucchini, chopped
• 12 oz broccoli, chopped
• 1/3 C grated 2% sharp cheddar

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350
2. Spray a 9×13 casserole dish with PAM (I use olive oil PAM)
3. Chop all the vegies, and gather all the other ingredients and measure them out. It makes this much easier to assemble.
4. Bring a large pot of water to boiling.
5. To prepare the sauce: Pre-heat a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the butter and as soon as it foams add the flour and stir for one minute; try not to let it brown. Add the milk and continue stirring until it starts to bubble. Add the pepper, poultry seasoning, and wedge of Laughing Cow cheese, stirring to combine. Simmer for 10 minutes stirring occasionally to prevent burning.
6. In the boiling water cook the pasta for 8 minutes then add the broccoli and continue to cook for 1 min. Drain and return to the hot pot. (This allows the excess moisture to evaporate)
7. Add the rest of the chopped vegetables and the chicken, stirring to combine.
8. Pour into the greased casserole dish and top with the white sauce. Sprinkle the grated cheese on top and cover with non-stick aluminum foil.
9. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, remove the foil and continue to cook an additional 10 minutes. Serve immediately.

Til next time,

Ciao xoxo