Cooking for Me

Very Simple and Very Good Lunch

Chicken Casserole + 3 Bean Salad + Jello Dessert

Chicken Casserole-canned chicken, elbow macaroni & cheddar cheese

Step #1 Preheat the oven to 350°

Step #2 Combine these ingredients in a large bowl – 2 (5 oz.) cans chicken *

• 2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
• 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
• 2 cans cream of chicken soup (10.75 oz.)
• 1 can sliced mushrooms (4 oz.)
• 1 /4 cup chopped onion (frozen is ok)

Step #3 Pour everything into a 9X13 inch baking pan.

Step #4 Bake until bubbly and golden brown, about 45 minutes.

*Of course, you can use already cooked chicken, leftovers, or rotisserie.

Watergate Salad- makes 10 servings

Step #1 Mix together-  1 box of Pistachio Pudding Mix ( 3.4 oz)

8 oz. bowl of Cool Whip

20 can crushed pineapple with juice (20 oz.)

1 /2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

16 oz. mini marshmallows

Maraschino cherries (save these for the top)

Step #2 Refrigerate for three hours, top with cherries. Serve cold.

Kraft Cool Whip’s first ingredient is water, followed by hydrogenated vegetable oil, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, and — finally — skim milk. From its name, you would think that the cream part of this “whipped topping” would appear higher on the list. Alas, Cool Whip is mostly just syrupy oil.

3 Bean Salad– of course you can eat beans right out of the can. Just warm them up and you are ready to go but here is a fancy way to dress them up.

Step#1 Drain each can of beans in a strainer and rinse them under cool water-shake gently

to drain and add together in a large mixing bowl.

1 can green beans

1 can yellow wax beans

1 can light red kidney beans

1 can garbanzo beans (chickpeas) OR

a can of cannellini beans

Step #2 Add 1/2 cup of thinly sliced onion

1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper

1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper (or orange or yellow…make it fun!)

Step#3 Now make a dressing…. Do it the easy way and toss everything with about a cup

Of Italian dressing OR….

Mix the following ingredients- Maybe even put them in an empty jar

to shake them up.

1/2 cup salad oil

3/4 cup red wine vinegar

3/4 cup sugar (or Splenda) 1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 /4 teaspoon black pepper

Mix or shake this together, pour it over the veggies.

Stir gently and refrigerate. Done!

What is a marinade?

A marinade is usually a combination of oil, vinegar, herbs and spices that foods are soaked in to add flavor and tenderness. An example is pickles. Meat is often soaked in a marinade. The dressing on this 3-bean salad is also a marinade.