Purple Pot Cooking Cheesy Goodness

You may recall that I recently got a purple pot (one of those heavy duty cast iron ones) and last weekend I wanted to christen it with a tasty Sunday dinner… but I was clueless as to what to make.  I did some Pinterest searching on Friday night and decided I wanted to make beef stroganoff and planned to visit the butcher on Saturday.

And then wine happened.

So there I was on Sunday afternoon, almost recovered but in no mood to go anywhere and hubby asked – what are you cooking in your purple pot?!  Back to Pinterest I went...

[caption id="attachment_120" align="alignnone" width="225"] My purple pot :)[/caption]

I can across this Cheesy Bacon Chicken Casserole recipe and worked for two reasons: 1) it was quick and easy, and 2) we had all 7 ingredients in the house (or at least ones I could substitute).  I did cut the recipe in half because there are only two of us.

Ingredients:

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into bite size chunks


• 4 strips of bacon


• 1 can cream of mushroom soup (original recipe called for cream of chicken but we didn’t have any)


• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (original recipe called for Monterey jack cheese and I’m sure it would have been yummy)


• 1 tbsp garlic poweder


• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°

Start making pasta according to directions – I made the pasta in my purple pot  :)

Cook bacon and then set aside

Cook chicken IN BACON PAN – so delicious, use those drippings!

[caption id="attachment_187" align="alignnone" width="225"] Chicken in bacon drippings!![/caption]

Once chicken is cooked, add garlic powder and then salt and pepper to taste

Drain pasta and return to (purple) pot

Add chicken, cream of mushroom soup and ½ cup of cheese – mix well*

Crumble bacon and put on top

Add remaining cheese

[caption id="attachment_188" align="alignnone" width="300"] Ready for the oven...[/caption]

Bake for approximately 20 minutes until cheese is melted and browning on top

[caption id="attachment_189" align="alignnone" width="256"] Cheesy, bacon chicken goodness![/caption]

*The other recipe tells you to spray a 9x13 baking pan with cooking spray and then pour the pasta and chicken mixture into the dish, but I wanted to use my purple pot so I just left it in there.

This cheesy casserole was perfect for a lazy Sunday night dinner and we even had leftovers.  I love mushrooms and next time might consider actually adding a few, but I will also try it with the cream of chicken soup.  I think this is the kind of cheesy goodness that you can mix up a few ways and enjoy!

Any other suggestions for purple pot cooking?

Sxxo.