Our Jalapeno Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole is a spin off of a very popular and delicious recipe.  I enjoyed it at a luncheon recently and it’s been on my mind ever since.  According to an internet search, it seems to have been recreated at least a bazillion times.  Here’s our version, based on ingredients already in our fridge and pantry.

If you’ve been following Lemony Thyme for a bit you may know that we cook a whole chicken each week.  We enjoy a wonderful roast chicken dinner on day one, then use the leftover chicken to make soups, salads, casseroles and of course Homemade Chicken Broth.  This week’s whole roasted chicken was prepared on our new smoker grill.  It was fantastic.  Just look at that beautiful bird.

We had so much meat leftover and an insatiable urge for comfort food that in about 30 minutes we were chin deep in Jalapeno Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole without a care in the world.

Most of what makes comfort food so comfortable is not having to rush to the grocery store for ingredients, not to mention the money you save every day you can avoid walking through those doors.  I have so many friends tell me that their family won’t eat leftovers.  My answer, stop feeding them leftovers.  Turn last night’s dinner into something new and fresh.

We had leftover chicken and a little cooked pasta on hand.  From there we worked with available ingredients.  If you don’t keep cream of chicken (or mushroom) soup on hand, Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup is really easy to make from scratch with simple ingredients.  We’ve got two very productive jalapeno plants growing in one of our porch pots, so we added in a bit of fresh diced jalapeno to our sliced mushrooms.  You could substitute or add sautéed onions, carrots, celery…all would be great additions.  We used sour cream, but half as much cream cheese would work as well.  The key is to work with what you’ve got on hand.

Bottom line, savory ingredients combined with a creamy sauce, topped with buttery cracker crumbs is pretty hard not to love.  Jalapeno Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole may not be made the same way twice, but it will always be delicious.

And comfortable.

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Jalapeno Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Total Time 35 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Ingredients

• 3 cups cooked chicken cubed
• 2 cups cooked pasta we used corkscrews
• 1 Tbl. butter
• 8 ounces sliced fresh mushrooms
• 1-2 jalapenos fine diced
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
• 1 Tbl. poppy seeds
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 can cream of chicken soup or see link in post for Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup
• 1 Tbl. butter melted
• 2 cups crushed buttery crackers

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 2-quart casserole with olive oil.
• In a large skillet, sauté mushrooms and jalapeno in 1 Tbl. butter and thyme until tender, about 7-8 minutes. Add in almonds, poppy seeds, sour cream, and chicken soup. Stir well to combine, then fold in cooked chicken and pasta. Pour into baking dish.
• In a small bowl combined cracker crumbs with 1 Tbl. melted butter. Sprinkle evenly over chicken mixture. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes until bubbly.

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Moist & Delicious Meatloaf.

Simplify.  This word hangs over my kitchen sink and is more often than not… ignored.  I love the concept of ‘less is more’ I just struggle when it comes to cooking with this in mind.  Having said that, this meatloaf recipe is the perfect example of combining just a few simple ingredients to create magic.  Maybe this should be called Magic Meatloaf.

I’ve come to love this meatloaf with it’s sweet ketchup glaze.  It’s not the kind of meatloaf I grew up with or even have made myself for many years, until now.  It’s texture is light and moist, I attribute that to a cup of crushed crackers.  For me…Ritz crackers.

I have added this meatloaf recipe to my collection of comfort foods.  It’s simplicity and delicious flavor make it a wonderful weeknight dinner.  Yet I also love it as a nice Sunday supper.

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Meatloaf {Moist & Delicious & Simply}

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Total Time 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Author The Jones family (Lanierland)

Ingredients

For meatloaf…

• 1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1 medium onion chopped
• 1 jalapeno fine diced
• 1 Tbl. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 Tbl. mustard
• 1 cup crushed cracker crumbs Ritz are my favorite

For sweet ketchup glaze…

• 1 cup ketchup
• 1 tsp. mustard
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1/2 cup brown sugar

Instructions

For meatloaf…

• Mix all ingredients and place in a casserole dish. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, then coat with sweet ketchup glaze. Continue cooking and additional 45 minutes.

For sweet ketchup glaze…

• Combine brown sugar and warm water until sugar is dissolved. Add ketchup and mustard and whisk to combine.

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