Aunt Laura's Easy Broccoli Chicken Casserole

This is another recipe taken from the book my sister gave me that is filled with family and friend's favorite dishes.  Each person was sent a few pages to fill out and then return to my sister where she then assembled them into a book.

This casserole is rich and tasty.  It calls for canned chicken, which I rarely use, so I use fresh chicken.  I recommend going the fresh route.  The cheese and breadcrumbs on top create a kind of cheesy crust that I love.  The recipe as written is simple and flavorful, but I think serving it over steamed rice adds a nice balance to the creamy texture of the dish.

One of the things that makes this particular recipe so special to me is that it's written in my Aunt's hand.  When I look at the page, I can see her in my mind...sitting at a table, writing the words on the paper, adding a smiley face here and there.  For a moment, I almost feel like she's still here.  I don't know what it is about her handwriting on a piece of paper that is so moving to me, but I can somehow feel her spirit in the pages, as hokey as that sounds.  One thing I know for sure is that there will never be another person in my life like Aunt Laura.  It would be hard to put the years of memories, and feelings of love and respect into words, let alone fit them into a single blog post.  So instead, I'll pass along her words of wisdom, written with love by her hand.  Each person that submitted a recipe for the book also answered a fill in the blank question:  The best advice about life I can give you is                            .  She wrote,

"Families are the roots of life.

Hope is their seed.

Faith is their rain.

Love is their sun."

♥

Ingredients

• 1 lb chicken, cooked and shredded
• 4 cups broccoli florets
• 1 can condensed chicken soup (I use Campbell's)
• ¾ cup mayonnaise
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
• breadcrumbs

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Place broccoli in the bottom of a 7 x 11 baking dish. (My dish is 8½ x 11 and works fine.)
3. Top with chicken.
4. In a medium bowl, combine soup, mayo, lemon juice and curry powder.  Spread soup mixture over chicken.
5. Finish by sprinkling cheese on top and adding a light coating of breadcrumbs.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 35-40 minutes.

Notes

• Ingredients can be doubled and cooked in a 9 x 13 baking dish.  
• Freezes well.