Make It Monday - Cheesy Chicken Noodle Casserole

Last week, early on Sunday I got a lovely Crockpot Pot Roast going early in the morning. It was Teacher's Convention weekend so with the kids home for four days, I knew I wasn't going to get a whole lot of quilting done. I don't know about anyone else's kids but as soon as I sit down to quilt my kids are in and out of my room every two minutes with questions, stories, requests, you name it and with that many interruptions, I get very little done.

Instead I took the time to make sure that lots of prep work was done for the week as well as taking the chance to do a good amount of scrubbing through the house so that when they went back to school on Monday, there was very little left for me to do and I had lots of time to quilt without interruptions!

In between cleaning bathrooms and floors, dusting, etc., I got this prepped. I did the make ahead version where I did steps 1 and 2 and got all that in the fridge Sunday by lunch. As usual, I skipped the salt and pepper since we don't need the salt and the kids don't like pepper. I also didn't bother stirring the chicken into the sauce.

Then first thing Monday morning, while finishing making lunches and getting the kids fed breakfast I got water boiling and a bag of egg noodles done. By the time the kids were fed and dressed I had all of the components ready to go. I put a quarter of the sauce on the bottom of the crock, then crumbled a quarter of the chicken over the sauce and spread a third of the noodles over top. I repeated, finishing with the chicken/sauce combo. I then just sprinkled the cheese and crumbs over top, skipping the butter and got it turned on. 
Before we left for school I had it all put together along with beds made, tidy up all done, kids fed, lunches made, all of it! When I got home from walking the kids to school I was able to type up last weeks post and then spend the rest of the day quilting. That's a big win for me. Yay!!


Ingredients
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 lb ground chicken
2 onions, finely chopped
4 stalks celery, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp paprika
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp poultry seasoning
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 10 oz can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 10 oz can condensed chicken broth, undiluted
8 oz cream cheese, cut into 2-inch cubes and softened
1 12 oz package egg noodles cooked and drained
1 cup bread crumbs
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
 2 Tbsp butter melted

Preparation
1. In a skillet, heal oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook, breaking up with a spoon, until meat is no longer pink. Drain off liquid and set chicken aside.

2. Reduce heat to medium. Add onions and celery and cook until softened. Add garlic, paprika, mustard, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Blend in soup and chicken broth. Add cream cheese, stirring, until cheese is melted, Stir in reserved chicken.

3. To assemble casserole: Spoon 1 cup chicken mixture in bottom of prepared stoneware. Add a layer of noodles. Repeat until all ingredients are used up, finishing with a layer of sauce.

4. To make Topping: In a bowl, toss bread crumbs with butter. Add cheese and spread over casserole.

5. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours or on HIGH for 4 hours, until hot and bubbling.

MAKE AHEAD:
This dish can be partially prepared the night before it is cooked. Complete Steps 1 and 2, chilling cooked meat and sauce separately. Refrigerate overnight. Shred cheese, cover and refrigerate. The next morning, cook noodles and continue as directed in Steps 3, 4 and 5.