Chicken A'lagont

Today’s recipe is one near and dear to my heart. This is the homey, feels good in your mouth and tummy type of recipe. The type of meal where you pick at the pan even after you’re full just because it tastes so amazing! Is it fancy? Nope. Is it a lot of work? Nope! Sounds basically like the perfect meal, right? Basically.

It brings me back to childhood because my mom made this often as I was growing up. In a big family, you have casseroles often because dinner just makes more sense that way.

Chicken A’lagont. I tried looking up how to spell a’lagont, since that's what Mom always called it, but couldn’t find it anywhere. So I’ve concluded she made the word up. And in her sense of wry humor tried to make it sound like "elegant chicken," even though I have yet to find a “elegant” casserole.

You’ll need:

Either a whole chicken or about 6 chicken breasts

A bag of Pepperidge Farm Herb Seasoned Stuffing (Trust me, this is the brand Mom used & you won’t want another)

1 can of Cream of Celery Soup (I used 98% Fat Free)

Either 8 oz Sour Cream or 8oz plain Greek Yogurt

Salt & Pepper

For Stuffing:

6 T butter

Onion, chopped (optional)

Celery, chopped (optional)

Alright, so if you’re using a whole chicken, bake it, then once it has cooled, cut it to bite sized pieces. This gives the chicken a great flavor. Or, if you have less time, use chicken breasts, cut them up, and boil them. Save the water. Just trust me.

While the chicken is cooking, cook the stuffing according to the directions on the back of the package. Easy, right?

You just sauté the onions and celery (or one or neither) in the melting butter, add the stuffing and some water and stir, baby, stir! If you’re boiling the chicken, use the water to flavor up the stuffing. As you’re mixing it all together, make sure you leave it a little crunchy. You don’t want it to be totally soft.

Place the prepared chicken in a medium sized mixing bowl and add the soup, salt, pepper, and sour cream or yogurt.

Alright, healthy tip time. I’m on a very disciplined work out routine right now, so I’m very conscious of everything I eat. Not in a guilty sort of way, but in a I-don’t-want-to-ruin-what-I’m-doing sort of way. So, in order to have the comforts of one of my childhood favorites (and because my sweet beau requested it,) I got creative. I used the nearly fat free version of the soup, which cuts out a ton of fat, and I substituted the Greek yogurt for sour cream which not only cuts out all that fat, but skyrockets the protein count. So now, the only “bad” part of this meal is the stuffing on top, and (yay!) it’s not that bad. For all of you who are curious, I’ve also used the yogurt as a sub for mayo and it worked beautifully!

Alright, so you’ve got your chicken mixture. Layer it into an oven safe casserole dish, and spoon the stuffing on top of it.

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, or until the top looks crispy. Warning: this dish will make you crave Thanksgiving associated food.

It’s so good! And for all you calorie freaks out there: