Comfort Food Chicken Noodle Bake

I love casseroles.  Have I mentioned this before?  Well I do.  Anything that can be baked or finished in one pan is worth a try for me.  Even if there is other preparation, the final bake time or cook time gives me plenty of chances to wash all the utensils and stuff I used getting there, which makes me feel MUCH better when dinner is finished AND I'm pretty much done with the dishes.  Jess also likes meals that he can just scoop out and I agree, there is something satisfying about getting bites of meat & veggies all mixed together.

Yummy, crunchy, goodness!

So a few weeks ago I found this recipe on Pinterest and knew I had to try it.  And I was right - it was delicious! I doubled it (ish) and made it in a 13x9 pan so that we could eat on it all weekend (ish), so that is what this recipes makes.  If you want a smaller portion, head on over to the original post for a 1 1/2 quart finished product.  Or you could do maths, your choice.

In the future, I think I will add another can of soup and use shredded chicken instead of cubed.  It was kind of dry (not like REALLY dry, just not as creamy as I'd like). And generally, I just like shredded chicken better, preference really. However, here is the original recipe of how I made it.  If I make it again soon, I'll update with the outcome.

Ingredients:
2 cans cream of chicken soup (we don't eat mushrooms here, feel free to substitute that or cream of celery)
1 cup milk
2 cups peas & carrots, I used frozen
1 lb of chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 package of medium egg noodles (ps: this is a lot of egg noodles...)
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (estimation)
1 1/2 cup french fried onions (estimation)

Cheddar cheese not included - it was a whim!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and oil 9x13 baking pan.  Set large pot of water to boil. Add noodles to water and cook al dente (approximately 6 minutes), drain and set aside. 

Season chicken with salt & pepper and cook in a little bit of oil or butter, however you like to do it.  Drain off excess liquid. 

Cooking chicken..,

Mix together soup, milk, vegetables, and parmesan cheese.

It's more than it looks like, this is a BIG bowl! 

Stir in chicken and then noodles.  Mix well.  Spread into baking pan.  Bake for about 25 minutes.

Almost forgot to take a picture before baking it.

Take pan out and spread top with shredded cheese (this was an afterthought, hence why it wasn't in the ingredients photo...).  Sprinkle the onions on top of the cheese and put back in the oven.

There's cheese under there...

Bake for another 5 minutes or until the onions are browned and crunchy.  I actually baked it for about 6 minutes more and then turned the broiler on low for about a minute - just watch it, broilers are scary!  Haha.

Jess loved! 

Remove and enjoy the comfort foody goodness!