New Recipe: Chicken Chow Mein

I'm thrilled to hear so many of you have tried Aunt Trudie's lasagna and love it as much as I do. My friend Mary has now become lasagna-crazed and admitted to multiplying the recipe by 6, buying a gigantic stockpot, and new lasagna pans. Way to go Mary! (p.s. bring a lasagna to our next pot luck).

And my friend Amy told me her family and in-laws loved it, too! She changed up the recipe a bit with diced tomatos instead of whole, an extra .5 lb of sausage and it was still great that way.

Here's the funny thing, I really don't cook a lot, or get excited about making food at home, unless it's really, really good. Well, I have to say this new recipe is really, really good. It's chicken chow mein and is courtesy of my Mother In Law, who got it from Pampered Chef. I altered it slightly and am sharing my version below. You can make it and bake it right away, or put it together and freeze it for later. I promise you it tastes amazing after being frozen!


Chicken Chow Mein

1/2 cup chopped onions
2 pieces of celery, chopped or sliced
1/4 cup butter
1 10-3/4 ounce can condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 Tbsp soy sauce
3 cups roughly chopped cooked chicken
1/2 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1 3-ounce can crunchy chow mein noodles (or 1/2 a bag)
5 Tbsp salted cashew halves (I don't use these - personal preference)
8 oz can of water chestnuts, drained and chopped (my addition, not in original recipe)

Preheat oven to 350. In a sauce pan, stir and cook onions and celery in butter until tender. Stir in soup, chicken broth and soy sauce. Add cooked chicken, mushrooms and water chestnuts, stir and heat until hot. Pour mixture into greased 2 quart baking dish. Spread chow mein noodles and cashews over the top. Bake uncovered until bubbly hot, about 25 minutes. Serves 4.

Assembled, but before cooking: the one on the left went in the oven, the one on the right went into the freezer (covered in foil).

If freezing, do not add the crunchy noodles until right before baking. Allow to thaw completely before adding noodles and baking.

I serve this with rice. You can bake the chicken the night before putting this together so it doesn't take so long. It takes about an hour in the oven at 350.

Enjoy!