Chicken Salad Casserole Baked Up

Total Time: 1 hr 30 mins Preparation Time: 45 mins Cook Time: 45 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 4
• 2 1/2 cups diced cooked chicken (if i don't have a rotisserie chicken on hand i will boil 2 breasts with salt and pepper)
• 2 cups cooked rice
• 1 (8 ounce) can sliced water chestnuts, drained (optional)
• 1 cup sliced celery
• 1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms (tastes so much better than canned!)
• 3 tablespoons onions, finely diced
• 1 1/2 a tsp. dried rosemary, crushed
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 (10 3/4 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise (whether you use light or not use the real stuff not miraclewhip!)
• 2 tubes ritz crackers, crumbled
• 2 -3 tablespoons butter or 2 -3 tablespoons margarine, melted
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds (optional but good)

Recipe

• 1 in a large bowl, combine all wet ingredients and seasonings (lemon juice,rosemary,salt and pepper, chicken soup and mayo).mix well.
• 2 add all dry ingredients into the wet mixture (chicken,rice,celery,mushrooms and chestnuts if you want them). mix wet and dry ingredients until all is well covered and evenly mixed.
• 3 place the mixture into a 9x13 casserole dish (no need to grease).
• 4 topping: melt the margarine or butter and add the crumbled ritz crackers and slivered almonds and mix well until a slightly moist crumbly texture is obtained. sprinkle over the entire surface of the casserole.
• 5 bake your casserole at 375 for 30-45 minutes. you are basically heating your casserole up and slightly cooking the mushrooms and celery. the veggies should still have a slight bite. enjoy!