And no, I’m not talking about Randy and I. I am talking about some of the old recipes that seem to be floating around on FB and on several web pages and blogs. In fact, this past Sunday, we were at our kids house in McKinney for dinner. They had told us that they were going to make us Fehttuchini Alfredo with Chicken. It was a recipe which they have made several times from Joanna Gaines new cookbook and it was really good. But in conversation with our sweet DIL, she and I were talking about some of the recipes which seem to be appearing that use good Ole Campbells Cream Soups. We began to talk about the chicken spaghetti recipe that I posted a couple of weeks ago and we agreed that some of the old tried and true recipes are still some of the best comfort foods. Today, I found myself wanting some spaghetti, (I think I must be half Italian and half Mexican because I think I could live on Mexican and Italian food, oh, but throw in a hamburger once a week, oh and chicken fried steak and, roast once in a while. Maybe I’m a mixture, kinda like a mutt, I guess. Anyway, back to the oldies and goodies. When you start to think about the “good old days” of pot lucks and church dinners and Sunday dinners at grandmas house, I bet your mind conjures up some of the foods like, lime jello salad, or the orange jello salad with mandarin oranges. Or maybe your mind goes to chicken and dumplings made with cream of chicken soup, or beef stroganoff and noodles, made with cream of mushroom. Or remember pot roast with a can of french onion soup and cream of mushroom? Of course, could we really have Christmas and Thanksgiving without the green bean casserole that uses Cream of Mushroom soup? And what about porcupine meatballs made in Campbells Tomato Soup. All this to say, that during this quarantine, when trying to order some of these soups, they have been hard to come by. Several weeks went by before I actually was able to acquire cream of celery and tomato soup. But now…..my pantry is stocked with every Campbells cream of EVERYTHING! So watch out family! Any recipe which you might receive these next couple of weeks will probably have one or more of the cream soups in them. To get things started, I thought I would post this recipe which uses a can of cream of mushroom soup. The filling is great used with crepes or poured over noodles or mashed potatoes.
1 pound of fresh mushrooms, cleaned
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup frozen chopped onions, or fresh onions, diced small
1 (10 3/4 oz) can cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk or cream
2 cups chicken, cooked and diced
1 cup cooked frozen peas or green beans, drained
1/2 teas garlic powder or 1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teas each, seasoned salt and pepper
Sauce mushrooms and onions in butter until tender. Sprinkle seasoned salt, pepper and garlic into this mixture. Set aside.
Combine soup, sour cream, milk, chicken and peas or green beans into a crockpot which you have sprayed with Pam. Cook on low for 2 hours, stirring often. Combine the mushrooms and onions during the last hour of cooking. Stir well and use as filing on crepes, or pour over mashed potatoes or cooked noodles.
Years ago, in the 70’s, before I married, I had a roommate, Sheila Waterman. She was a teacher and I worked for the government. We spent lots of Friday nights, sitting in our apartment, wondering why all the guys were not flocking to our door, to take us out on dates. When we would get paid at the beginning of the month, we would go crazy buying all sorts of great food that would last us about a week or so. By the end of each month, we dined on vermicelli, boiled cabbage or mac & cheese. But the first of the month, oh boy, did we have some great meals. One of those great recipes that Sheila made were these chicken croquettes. We would sit and visit over this great meal and laugh at our feeble attempts at how we would try to get certain guys attentions and tell ourselves, “wow,if they could see how good we cooked, they would be lining up outside the door.” In reality, looking back, it was probably all the great meals that kept us both in one piece bathing suits, while the other girls who lived at the apartment complex were sitting out there flirting with the guys in their two piece cute little suits that wouldn’t cover a 3 yr old, much less a 20 year old. But…don’t feel sorry for us. After a year or so, we both met guys that ended up marrying us. Neither of our marriages lasted, but this recipe….it has lasted through the years.
Chocolate Castles 