Homemade Casserole, A Bit Healthier

He loves me, he loves me not.  He loves me, he loves me not.  He loves me… HE BETTER LOVE ME! 

This weekend I’m headed out of here, and flying West, to none other than VIVA LAS VEGAS!  One of my best friends is getting married in less than a month so of course a bachelorette party in Vegas is protocol.

Since I love, adore, and care about my husband and his health, just because I go out of town doesn’t mean he should eat fast food every meal.  Yes, he is capable of cooking something for himself, but I guess at this point, it’s safe to say, he’s spoiled rotten in the food department; then again, I love to cook, so it’s not really work for me either.

Dustin LOVES one-dish meals; soups, casseroles, pot-pies, etc… like the ones your grandmother, grandma, granny’, or whatever you may call her makes.  There are only a few problems here.  The first being, one-dish meals are usually terrible for us (this is where I come in, recipe makeover).  And second, they usually include milk and cheese; since I’m lactose intolerant, I rarely ever make them. So what a perfect time to make one?!  When I’m going out of town and the husband still wants good food!

Dustin always says things like this to me, “Hey, can you make Sausage Casserole, but make it healthy?” or “Ash, why don’t you learn how to make healthy pigs-in-a-blanket?”  Okay, Dustin.  Sometimes it’s impossible, but other times, it’s absolutely doable, like today.

My TOTW (Tip of the Week) for next week was going to be, eat what you want, but make it yourself so his a perfect example.  For this weekend, I made Dustin a HUGE, from scratch, all organic, healthy homemade casserole, Chicken Broccoli and Cheese Casserole to be exact to eat for dinner while I’m gone. Hopefully, he’ll share with some others as well!

This is filled with fat-free organic cheese, so it’s not something you want to eat everyday, but instead of your grocers freezer or maybeee even grandmas full-fat, processed ingredient filled, unhealthy casserole, maybe next family get together you can offer to bring the dish!

In my quest to make this dish, at first I thought I was going to use a can of Campbell’s Healthy Request Cream of Chicken Soup.  That was until I read the ingredients.

Ingredient list for Cream of Chicken Soup. 

CHICKEN STOCK, WATER, MODIFIED FOOD STARCH, CHICKEN MEAT, MALTODEXTRIN, CREAM (MILK), CONTAINS LESS THAN 1% OF: WHEAT FLOUR, VEGETABLE OIL, SOY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, CORNSTARCH, SALT, POTASSIUM CHLORIDE, LOWER SODIUM NATURAL SEA SALT, FLAVORING, MODIFIED FOOD STARCH, CHICKEN FAT, YEAST EXTRACT, DISODIUM GUANYLATE, DISODIUM INOSINATE, SODIUM PHOSPHATE, SOY PROTEIN ISOLATE, SPICE, BETA CAROTENE (FOR COLOR), DEHYDRATED CHICKEN.

No thank you.

So, after reading that, I decided I would just do my own ‘cream mixture’ with organic fat-free milk, organic whole wheat flour, homemade organic, free-range chicken broth, Parmesan cheese, and reduced-fat Sharp Cheddar Cheese to dust on top.  No fake ingredients there. I laid brown rice down first, topped it with broccoli florets and shredded chicken and then topped it my cream sauce. I cooked it on 350 for about 45 minutes, topped it with cheese for the last five minutes and dinner for the hub was served!

Now I can rest assured (:-)) in Vegas, knowing that my husband will probably be eating better than me.  I hope you all have a great weekend!

Tagged as: healthy casseroles, healthy chicken and broccoli casserole, healthy homemade casserole recipe, ingredients in cream of chicken soup, is cream of chicken soup bad for you