Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Chicken Thighs ala Campbell's.

Campbell's soup has a recipe for a chicken stuffing casserole consisting mainly of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, stuffing and soup, baked in the oven.  It's a simple recipe, but I find that the stuffing and chicken tend to get on the dry side, so I don't make it very often.  Now my mother-in-law found boneless, skinless chicken thigh strips on sale again, and even though we told her not to buy them anymore, she did anyway.  The thigh strips usually have a lot of fat attached to them and after trimming the fat away, the pieces are so small.  Tyson either needs to make larger pieces or stop making the product altogether.  Anyway, I have that recipe for  Sweet and Sour Chicken Thighs, but believe it or not, I wasn't in the mood for Asian food. What the heck do I do with them?

Looking through the pantry, I found cream of mushroom soup and Stove Top stuffing; I also found a bag of chopped broccoli in the freezer and knew I could make this work. Knowing that the original recipe usually comes out dry, I opted to use the crock pot instead and hoped it would produce a moister dish.  I also thought that the fat would melt off the chicken and help to add moisture to the stuffing.

Now I have to warn you that the dish is not a pretty sight, but the taste was pretty darned good. I'm still not a fan of chicken thighs, but my hubby and mother-in-law liked the results which leads me to wonder, "Will she be buying chicken thigh strips again?"


Crock Pot Chicken Stuffing Broccoli Bake

Ingredients:


2 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thigh strips
1 bag (10 oz) Stove Top stuffing
1 bag (16 oz) frozen chopped broccoli
2 cans (10.5 oz) cream of chicken soup plus one can of milk
1 tsp each ground black pepper, onion powder and garlic powder

Preparation:

Set 4 qt crock pot on low; spray interior with nonstick cooking spray.

Place chicken strips on bottom, spread stuffing over chicken and then the broccoli over the stuffing. In a medium bowl, mix together the soup, milk and seasonings; pour over the broccoli. Cover and let cook for 5 hours.

Makes 8 servings.

Note: boneless, skinless chicken breasts can be used instead of thigh meat.

Mary Cokenour