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| Creamy chicken casserole without the cream. |
Since I have become dairy intolerant, I have to avoid cream, milk, cheese, yogurt, etc. Yesterday I was hankering for a creamy casserole so I googled and found
this recipe. I tweaked it just a bit. I halved the recipe for a serving of four. And I eliminated the yeast (simply because I did not have any, but apparently that would have given the recipe a cheesy flavor plus a dose of Vitamin B.)
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| Removing the strands of noodles from the spaghetti squash. |
I halved a small spaghetti squash and cooked it in the microwave for about 8 minutes. When it was cool enough, I scraped with a fork to remove the strands of squash noodles and placed them in an 8x8 deep casserole dish.
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| Spaghetti noodles in casserole dish. |
Instead of baking the four boneless chicken thighs, I poached them.
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| Poached chicken thighs. |
For the sauce, I assembled 1/2 cup of basil (from my garden), 2 cups of fresh spinach, and a 13.5 oz can of artichoke bottoms chopped coarsely. Must not forget the 1/2 cup of Duke's mayo. Mix all the sauce ingredients and mix in with the spaghetti noodles.
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| Chop spinach and basil and mix with chopped artichoke and mayo. |
Cut the chicken thighs into large chunks and thoroughly mix with the rest of the ingredients. I refrigerated the casserole and when we were ready to eat, I placed the casserole in a 400 degree F oven for 15 to 20 minutes until it was heated through. I garnished with leaves of basil before serving.
This certainly satisfied my craving for a "creamy" without the cream chicken casserole. Next time I shall use the yeast for a cheesy taste.
If you must avoid dairy, you might enjoy this casserole. It is delicious!
