Hot Chicken Salad, December 19, 2015

We'd planned to have dinner out last night, but my poor sweetheart appears to have a touch of the flu and only wanted toast for dinner, so I drove through McDonald's. I should have had toast, actually, and cocoa. So, I was glad tonight to have a home-cooked dinner. It was a very retro sort of dinner, with the main course, hot chicken salad, coming from my mother-in-law's West Point Hostess cookbook. I'd planned to serve green salad with the casserole & potato soufflé, but we had already eaten it, so I just served some pineapple on the side. Not a very healthy dinner, at all, but really delicious and pretty easy to throw together. Boot is visiting for Christmas and he and Jeannene really liked it, especially the potatoes. He put his third serving of potatoes on a tortilla. He can eat like y'all would not believe, probably because he works out 4 or 5 hours a day.

Hot Chicken Salad

2 cooked chicken breasts, chopped

1 1/2 c. chopped celery

1/2 c. chopped pecans

3 tbsp. dried minced onion

3 tbsp. lemon juice

Salt & pepper

1 can cream of mushroom soup (the original recipe calls for cream of chicken, but I used what I had on hand and it worked out great)

3/4 c. mayonnaise (I use the olive oil mayo)

Potato chips to crumble on top (I used plain Lay's, but I think perhaps sour cream and onion or BBQ might be interesting)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix everything but the mayonnaise, soup, and potato chips. Put in 2-quart casserole. Mix the soup and mayonnaise and pour over the top of the chicken mixture. Do not mix it into the chicken. Top with an even layer of crushed potato chips. Bake about half an hour. Serves 6-8. 

Potato Soufflé

About 6 c. mashed potatoes (I just used a package of Bob Evans pre-made mashed potatoes)

8 oz. chive cream cheese (the sort in the tub)

2 eggs

1/4 c. sour cream

A pinch of salt

4 tbsp. butter, melted

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix well and place in greased (I use cooking spray) 1 1/2-2 qt. casserole or soufflé dish. Bake 45 minutes. Serves 6-8.