Million Dollar Chicken Casserole

I feel like March starts to bring us out of the winter doldrums only to have us wondering where all our time went. Maybe we are just set up to always think the grass is greener on the other side, even when that grass is beneath a blanket of snow! Nevertheless, I like to have some easy and hearty meal ideas on hand for times like now. It's still cold, windy, and sometimes icy and snowy in Wisconsin so we're definitely leaning more toward soups and casseroles than salads and sandwiches for now.

That's why this casserole, built on a foundation of leftover chicken, frozen veggies (I used peas, but you can mix and match with abandon here), and a creamy sauce, is perfect this time of the year. If you don't have cornflakes, crush a bunch of butter crackers and use that instead. You want something crunchy and buttery on top of this one. Cornflakes give me a better crunch, but coarse cracker crumbs will also do the trick.

I like to work a salad into the menu planning for this since it's not exactly swimming in vegetable matter. A simple garden salad should do the trick and if you feel you must serve this casserole over something, either pasta or rice will do the trick. I don't bother and just have an extra serving of salad.