Chicken Casserole

Sarah and I saw this on TV, but we think it's easier to use prepared chicken instead of cooking it yourself.  (We're all about making life easy when we can!)  Also, we decided that even though you can use raw potatoes (cook for about 15 minutes longer) it's so much easier to use the prepared cubed hash browns than slicing or cubing your own poatoes. 

Ingredients:
3 cups cooked chicken chunks (packaged fajita strips work well)
3 cups frozen diced potatoes
3 cups frozen vegetables
Sauce
Grated Cheese

Sauce:
2 cups sour cream
1 cup milk
1/4 cup flour
8 tbsp butter
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1-3 Tbs. seasonings of your choice (you can change these to change the flavor of your casserole.)
1 chicken bullion cube
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Melt the butter in a saute pan and add the flour to create a roux. Whisk in the milk, cheddar cheese, spices, bullion cube, salt and pepper.
2. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes while stirring. Remove from the heat and allow it to cool for about ten minutes.
3. Add the chicken and the sour cream to the cooled white sauce. Mix together and set aside.
4. Spray a 9x13 baking pan with vegetable spray. Cover bottom of the pan with the potatoes
5. Create a layer of vegetables on top of the potatoes.
6. Spread the chicken mixture over the vegetables. Sprinkle with shredded cheese.  Cover the pan with aluminum foil and place in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.
7. After 30 minutes, remove the foil, and continue cooking for 10 additional minutes to brown up the top.
8. Remove from the oven and allow the casserole to sit for 10 minutes. Serve and enjoy!

Susie's Roast Beef Dinner

This is how I make roast beef for Sunday dinner.  Cook the meat "low and slow."  

• 1 pot roast.  I use either a chuck roast, a 7-bone roast, or something like that.  The flat kind of beef roast.  You can do pretty much any size roast, within reason.
• 1 package Lipton onion soup mix (or a store brand equivalent.)
• About a cup of water
• Potatoes
• Canned milk or cream
• Butter
• Thickener for gravy (I use cornstarch, but you can also use flour)

Put the roast in one of those black (or dark blue) roasting pans with the white speckles on it.  You can use a different type of pan to roast in, but the dark color of this type of roasting pan helps to make the gravy a nice dark brown color.  Sprinkle the dry onion soup mix over the top of the roast.  Pour about a cup of water around the roast, to provide moisture and prevent the roast from drying out.

Put the lid on the roasting pan and place in a low (250 degree) oven for about 5 hours.  You can cook it at 350 degrees for three hours instead, but your roast will not be as tender and flavorful.  Also, a lot of the moisture will cook away and you will not have nearly as much available to make your gravy.  

About 45 minutes to an hour before you are ready to serve your dinner, scrub potatoes well and cut into chunks.  Put in large pan and barely cover with water.  Bring to a boil and simmer until very tender.  Drain potatoes and add butter and canned milk or cream.  Whip till potatoes are fluffy.  (You can peel the potatoes before you cook them, but it's a lot more work and most of the nutrition is in the peel, so it's actually better to leave the skins on.)  Cover potatoes to keep them hot till dinner is ready.

At the end of the cooking time, remove the roast and cover to keep hot while you make the gravy.  Put roasting pan (with drippings) on stove top and turn heat on medium.  Bring to a boil, stirring with spatula and scraping flavored bits off sides and bottom of roasting pan.  Mix about half a cup of water with a few heaping tablespoons of cornstarch till smooth.  Pour cornstarch mixture into the drippings all at once, stirring continually.  Keep stirring as the gravy cooks and thickens.  Taste, and add salt if necessary.  If your gravy isn't flavorful enough, add a little beef bouillon to enhance flavor.  (If you are using flour instead of cornstarch, you will need to use more flour, and so more water to mix it with.  Stir it into the drippings more gradually.  Your gravy will be cloudy instead of clear and you'll need to cook it a little longer to thicken it. But it will still be delicious.)

I like to serve this dinner with green beans (see "green beans ala Susie) and homemade bread.