Chicken Noodle Casserole

It's a pretty basic recipe, and maybe you all have your own favorite Chicken Noodle Casserole recipes. If so, disregard this post. (No, actually, send me your recipe, I'd love to have it!) But its cheap, easy and goes over well, especially with the kids. So I'm sharing. Everyone should have a recipe so easy! Its from a family friend and is a recipe I remember feasting on often in my youth. (And a great use of all of the chicken broth and cooked chicken after buying split chicken breasts!)

The recipe:
10-16 oz. Egg Noodles (any small noodle/pasta will work. )
1/2 c. butter/margarine
1/3 c. flour
2 c. chicken broth
1 c. cream of mushroom soup
salt, pepper to taste
2 c. cooked chicken
Parmesan cheese

Start by melting your butter/margarine in a large skillet. Start a big pot of hot water to cook your noodles.

When the butter is melted, sprinkle the flour on top.

Using a whisk, stir together the butter and flour, making a paste-like substance.

Then slowly add your broth, a little bit at a time, whisking at the same time to break up the chunks of your butter/flour mixture. (If you pour it in all at once, its going to be harder to break up that mixture, and you will end up with clumps.)

When the butter, flour and broth is mixed together it should be smooth like this:

Add cream of mushroom soup and stir in. (You can also use cream of chicken or celery, but I think mushroom has the best taste.)

Stir in your shredded, cooked chicken and heat through, simmering. Salt and pepper to taste. This recipe is good with a generous amount of pepper.

Your noodles should be done by now -- add them in, stir through.

If you like a very saucy casserole, use only 10-8 oz. noodles, I use up to a pound of noodles, and it works just as well, there's just less sauce.

The recipe says to pop it in the oven at 350 for 20 minutes, although I rarely do. Then just top with grated/shredded Parmesan and enjoy!
I love this recipe because its easy, cheap and the whole family loves it. It freezes easily. When I make this recipe with a pound of pasta it will feed our family of 4 twice. I just pop half of it into a casserole dish, cover tightly and freeze for next time. Thaw it in the fridge a day or two ahead of time, and pop it into the oven for 20-30 min. (This is also my standard casserole to give to families with new babies, deaths in the family, etc.)

And I get to laugh every time I see a commercial or article in a magazine to "feed your family of 4 for less than $10!" When I use my homemade chicken broth and cooked chicken (from this post) this casserole costs about $3 to make (and we stretch it into 2 meals, so $1.50. ) That's per MEAL, not per person. In the plate above the veggies and fruit are the most expensive part of the meal. On this night, I figured out our entire meal cost about 75 cents each.
So go forth, eat, prosper, get full, and save your cash for a night at the movies!