Another week of bare grocery shelves—and a pantry recipe

 

Cheesy chicken casserole--
Tastes even better than it looks.

This week has been like the beginning of the pandemic lockdown all over again—bare grocery shelves. Jordan reported several items she couldn’t get, over and above toilet paper—like all the bread shelves were empty, and of all things, she couldn’t find the frozen hash browns we wanted for a casserole.

I have to eat a little bit of crow here. When pandemic started, Jordan loaded us up with staples—the cabinets in my kitchen, which are limited in space anyway, are filled with cans of cream of mushroom soup, tomatoes, beans—one whole shelf of beans! We have enough rice for Coxie’s Army, and every time I use up the egg noodles and think I’ve freed up a little space, she buys more egg noodles. Crackers anyone? We have your pleasure—Wheat Thins, Ritz, saltines, rice crackers. And the good canned tuna and salmon from an Oregon cannery—we could eat fish daily for a month and not run out. I do admit the latter is my fault, and I’m mostly the one that eats it.

On Sundays, we try to do a special “Sunday dinner,” but last weekend, like most folks, we were about out of anything fresh, and Jordan was reluctant to go to the grocery. She announced we would have something out of the cupboard and the freezer. So I plowed through the appalling collection of recipes I intend to try some day and found a casserole of chicken, refried beans, and cheese. Here’s what we did:

Cheesy Chicken Casserole

1 32 oz. can refried beans (we used refried black, believing, rightly or wrongly, that they are a bit more healthy)

1 can Rotel, flavor of your choice – recipe called for original, but I like lime with cilantro (and to think all my years as a Midwesterner I never heard of Rotel!)

½ onion, diced

12 oz. Velveeta, cubed

4 c. shredded, cooked chicken

1 cup corn, cooked and drained

½ c. cilantro, chopped

½ c. cheddar cheese, grated

Optional garnishes: chopped green onion tops, pico de gallo, maybe even corn chips

Directions:

Use a 9x13 baking pan and grease lightly. Spread refried beans in the bottom.

In skillet, sauté onions in a tiny bit of olive oil; add Rotel and Velveeta, heat slowly, and stir to mix. When cheese is completely melted, add the chicken, corn, and cilantro. Stir well.

Pour the chicken mixture over the refried beans. Top with plenty of grated cheddar.

Bake at 350^o until cheese is melted and mixture is a bit bubbly—about 20-30 minutes. Let it sit for a couple of minutes to set up and then serve.

Our verdict? Absolutely delicious! One of the best Mexican-style casseroles ever—and also one of the easiest. I could eat this once a week. It definitely goes into the regular rotation of dishes in our household.

I bet there are hash browns on grocery shelves today, but Jordan’s wise planning paid off with this recipe, and, other than gentle teasing, I won’t mention overstocking again. If you stocked your cupboard, what things—besides toilet paper—did you think were essential?