Syndicated column week of January 13, 2013.

We eat a lot of chicken in my household. There are three good reasons for that. It is relatively cheap. It is easy to fix lots of ways. We like it.

When my daughter was about eight years old, she told me Home is where the chicken is. Being the picky eater that she is, we ate a lot of the same foods. If you have had a member of the picky eater’s club at your house, you know what I mean. It’s a challenge to come up with food that does not feel repetitious. I was glad that chicken was on the good food list!

Since chicken is so versatile, I have used it in many soups, salads and casseroles. This Chinese flavored casserole is easy to make and is a nice change from my usual chicken, cheese and noodles casserole.

Sweet & Sour Chicken Casserole

6 Chicken Tenders, diced
1 bottle (14 oz) Sweet & Sour Sauce
½ package (14 oz) Oriental Vegetables
1 box (6 oz) Oriental Rice Mix
½ package (14 oz) Chinese noodles

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare rice according to package directions. Mix chicken, sauce, vegetables and rice in 9 x 13 baking pan. Sprinkle crunchy Oriental noodles on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

Make It A Meal: serve with a cabbage slaw and fortune cookies. If you are really adventurous, you can make up some miso or egg drop soup as a first course.

Approximate Nutritional Value: Servings Per Recipe: 12, Amount Per Serving: Calories: 184, Total Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 16mg, Sodium: 321mg, Total Carbs: 36g, Protein: 8g.

Variations: you can use pork or other leftover meat in place of the chicken. If your family likes teriyaki flavor, you can switch up the sauces. If you are watching your sodium intake, you can replace the box of rice mix with plain white or brown rice.

I like to bake chicken in fairly large quantities, since we use it often. That way I am only heating up the oven once and generally will have enough chicken to use for three or more meals. This casserole is a great way to use up the last bits of chicken from last night’™s supper if you only had a few pieces leftover.

This casserole is also a good dish to take to the church dinner or work potluck. It doesn’t take long to put together and will travel well in your covered pan. If you need to feed a crowd, this recipe is easy to double without doubling your effort.

Now that my daughter is living on her own, she buys chicken in quantity and fixes it for herself. Thank goodness her membership to the picky eater club is conditional now. She eats most foods, and saves her pickiness for things like mushrooms, cucumbers and zucchinis.

Noel Lizotte is breaking free of corporate stress with convenience cooking! This recipe is similar to ones printed in her cookbook Apron Free Cooking which is available on the website www.apronfreecooking.com. She also writes a monthly column at www.culinarychat.net.

 

 

Interested in one of the books pictured above? You can purchase on Amazon here.