Fun Food Friday- Chicken & Stuffing Casserole

Did you ever read the Christy Miller Series by Robin Jones Gunn?  I think most Christian women my age probably read them at some point during their teen years.  Well Gunn wrote another series called the Glenbrooke Series that had the character Alissa from the Christy MillerSeries.  In the back of the book Gunn would put a recipe from the story.  Well one of the recipes was Alissa's Ritzy Chicken.  Fairly soon after we were married I tried out the recipe and really liked it.  It was very simple, just place chicken in a pan, pour cream of chicken over it, add some sour cream if you like and then put Ritz Crackers on top.  It was good, but Steve recommended that I put stuffing on top instead.  Then I decided I liked it better if I mixed the sour cream and soup together.  Then I decided I liked it best if I cut the chicken up.  Then I decided it might taste even better if I added Swiss cheese.  :)  So after much additions, here is one of our favorite meals- Chicken & Stuffing Casserole.

Ingredients: Stuffing, Chicken, Sour Cream, Cream of Chicken Soup, Swiss Cheese, Butter

 

First you want to make the stuffing.  If you have a box of stuffing, just make the whole box.  I like to use the big container and make 8 servings, especially when I'm going to be dividing it into two 8x8 pans.  So first you put the water (for 8 servings it's 2 cups)...

and butter (for 8 servings it's 4 Tablespoons) in a saucepan and heat until butter is melted and water is boiling.

Then add the dry stuffing (for 8 servings it's 4 cups).

Mix together...

Cover and let set for 5 minutes. 

Meanwhile in a mixing bowl add one can of cream of chicken soup...

 

and 1 1/2 cups of sour cream... 

and stir together

add 1 1/2 cups of Swiss cheese and stir.

 

Cut up 5 chicken breasts

Add to the soup mixture

And stir

Put mixture in a greased 9x13 pan or two 8x8 pans (one for dinner, one for the freezer)

 

Top with stuffing.  If you are not going to bake it right away don't put the stuffing on top until it is completely cooled.

Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Chicken & Stuffing Casserole with Cashew Salad and Crescent Rolls, yum yum.

 

And if you think that looks good, you should see the view to my right:

 

and to my left-

 

Doesn't get better than that :)

Week 23

Jonathan (right)- 19.2 pounds
David (left)- 16.8 pounds

As you can see, the boys are getting harder to get both of them to look at me and smile.  Although, this should explain why:

 

 

They are way more interested in looking at their brother than mommy.  But who can fault them for that, he is a pretty fun guy. :)  As you can see from their weight the boys are growing well.  I just checked what Micah was at 6 month and he was 18lb 12oz, so Jonathan has already passed him up and he's not 6 months for another couple of weeks!  So needless to say, they are eating really well these days.  It is so fun to see the twins' personalities starting to show.  Jonathan is definitely our laid back, happy one.  If you need a smile, you can always count on Jonathan to give you one.  And he's usually pretty content no matter where he is.  David reminds me more of Micah, always checking everything out and a little more serious.  He also isn't always content in one place too long.  It surprises me, I would have thought the opposite because when I was pregnant with them Jonathan was the super active one and David more calm.  No teeth yet, just lots of bumps, chewing and drool. Looks like they're teething like their older brother. :(  We are desperately waiting for spring around here.  It snowed yesterday!  At least today we finally woke up to the sun, something we hadn't seen in a while, but it still was too cold to play outside.  Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I'll be able to post pictures of us playing outside and taking a walk in our cool triple stroller! :)  Here are some pictures from our week:

David wanted to read the paper...or eat it, one of the two :)

The boys in their church outfits on Sunday.  They were Micah's old clothes. 

Don't they just look so cute in them!!! :)

I wanted to get Micah in the picture with them but he wouldn't cooperate.  The best I could get him to do was give them a kiss.

I had them sitting by each other on the couch and Jonathan just started chewing on David's shoulder, so funny. 

Jonathan wasn't too happy when I moved him.

Now they're back to loving each other.

See, they even hold hands.  So Steve, Micah and I were playing hide and seek and running around the house (going "na-na" as Micah says) and David and Jonathan were watching us.  One time when I ran past them they were holding hands, so cute.  So of course I had to stop and take a picture, all while Steve was hiding upstairs. :)  Oh the fun we have in the Bussis house. 

Fun Food Friday- California Club Pizza

One of my favorite restaurants in California is the California Pizza Kitchen.  I went there quite a bit with my mom and sister and we would always share a California Club Pizza.  Here in Michigan we don't have California Pizza Kitchens, so one day I decided to just make my own California Club Pizza.  I ate this pizza a lot when I was pregnant with the twins.  I had gestational diabetes and I found if I just used a thin pizza crust it wouldn't be too many carbs.  It was usually my Sunday night meal.  I'd put it together before church, set the timer for the oven so it would be all preheated by the time I got home from church, and then pop it in the oven and 10 minutes later, I was eating a delicious dinner! :)  You can make your own crust or just use a premade one.  I really like these Mamma Mary ones.  Anyways, this pizza doesn't use pizza sauce which is a plus for me because I'm not a huge fan of pizza sauce.  You pretty much make a salad which goes on top of the baked pizza.  Okay, enough talk, here's the pizza:

Ingredients: Pizza Crust, Chicken, Bacon, Cheese, Lettuce, Tomato, Avocado, Mayonnaise, Sugar

 

On the pizza crust add cooked, diced chicken...

 

Cut up bacon (I use pre-cooked, you can also use bacon bits)...

And shredded cheese (I use Colby-Jack). 

Bake according to crust instructions.

In a bowl add some Mayonnaise... 

 

and sugar.  It will depend on how big a pizza you are making as to how much mayo and sugar you need.  Just start by adding a little sugar and see how it tastes.

To the mayo mixture add some shredded lettuce... 

 

some diced tomato...

And avocado 

Stir together (see, looks like a salad :))

Place the baked pizza on a plate...

Top with the lettuce mixture...

Cut it up and enjoy....

 

Every...

Last... 

 

Bite...

I'm always so sad when it's all gone. :)