Chicken Casserole

Sometimes I have a crazy craving for something to eat from my childhood. When I was little I remember going to a church function and my grandma brought this for the potluck. I had had it before, but for some reason it tasted especially delicious that day. From that point on I loved it when she made it. She used cream of celery soup because she didn't like cream of mushroom and canned chicken, but I am not really a fan of celery so I use cream of mushroom and I always make cook my own chicken. I'm sure everyone has a variation of this recipe, but I just thought I would share mine. Here's what I did:

1 large chicken breast, shredded or cubed
1 can of cream of mushroom
1 can of cream of chicken
1 can of milk (just regular milk poured into soup can)
1 small onion, chopped
garlic cloves, chopped (I used three because my family loves garlic)
About 1 cup of frozen sweet peas
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
About a half bag of egg noodles cooked

Open cans and put into a large bowl. Add milk and mix thoroughly. Add a little black pepper. I always use reduced sodium cream soups so I added just a little salt too.

Saute onions in a little bit of olive oil. Cook until onion starts to get a little color then add the chopped garlic. Cook for just about 30 seconds then add the shredded chicken. When the bottom of your pan starts to get a little brown because the oil has been absorbed add the peas. Stir for a few seconds as the peas start to unthaw. This will start to loosen up the brown bits a little. Then add a couple of ladles of the cream soup mixture. Scrape the bottom of the pan to get all of those yummy brown bits. Make sure you don't skip the step of really allowing browning in the pan because that adds so much flavor.  When you've gotten all of the brown bits mixed into the sauce dump the mixture into the bowl with the remaining cream soup mix, stir thoroughly, then add the cooked noodles a little at a time until you get your desired noodleness (totally made up that word, aren't I clever?).

Pour into a buttered dish and bake covered in 350 degree oven for about 30-45 minutes (until bubbly). Uncover and sprinkle on cheese then bake until cheese is melted. Remove from oven and let it sit for a few minutes.

Dish up and enjoy!