Garlic Parmesan Chicken and Noodles PLUS Creamy Garlic Parmesan Chicken Noodle Soup (Creative Leftovers)

Winter has finally arrived here in Northeastern Ohio! After an hour-long driveway shovelling session last night, I was in the mood for some comfort food. This twist on a classic chicken and noodles recipe fit the bill! Nothing earth-shattering about this one...no intense or exotic flavors, in that regard it was sort of ho-hum...but still, it was creamy and delicious and the perfect meal for a snowy Monday night. Plus, the kiddos ate it up!

This recipe was written for a pre-roasted rotisserie chicken. When I first came across it in an issue of Better Homes and Gardens, I thought it would be a great way to use leftover Thanksgiving turkey. But last night, with no rotisserie chicken or leftover turkey in sight, I poached a couple of large boneless, skinless chicken breasts.

Chicken breasts bubbling away in a pot of salted water is never a pretty sight. That icky foam always forms on top. But my pictures last night were all decidedly bad no matter what I photographed. Sorry about that.

In another pot, saute 4 cloves of minced garlic in a little olive oil.

Stir a cup of frozen peas into the garlic.

Then, add in 1-3/4 to 2 cups of milk. Heat through.

While the milk and peas are heating up, and you shred the chicken (if you're not using an rotisserie chicken, that is), boil the noodles. I just boiled these in the same water that I used to poach the chicken (after skimming the scum, that is). No time needed to heat the water and less dishes!

Add the cooked, shredded chicken to the milk mixture.

Then stir in the noodles and Parmesan. Heat through.

Transfer the mixture into a casserole dish, then go to work on the topping.

I know that I've shared my trick for using a coffee grinder to make bread crumbs on this blog before.

It really does work well!

Mix the bread crumbs with some Parmesan cheese and butter.

Then top the chicken and noodles and bake at 450 degrees for 5 minutes or until the top begins to brown.

Now the only step left is to dish it up!

Here's the recipe, adapted by me from Better Homes and Gardens

Garlic Parmesan Chicken and Noodles

Start to Finish: 30 minutes

Ingredients
6-8 oz. extra-wide egg noodles
1 2- to 2-1/4-lb. purchased roasted chicken
1 cup frozen peas
4 cloves garlic, minced or 2 teaspoons bottled minced garlic
2 cups milk
1 slice white or wheat bread
1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. In a soup pot, bring 6 cups salted water to boiling; add noodles. Cook 10 minutes or until tender; drain.

2. Meanwhile, remove chicken from bones. Discard skin and bones; shred chicken. In saucepan combine chicken, peas, garlic, and whole milk; heat through. Cover and keep warm.

3. In blender or food processor or coffee grinder, process bread into coarse crumbs. Transfer to small bowl; add 1/4 cup of the Parmesan and 2 Tbsp. melted butter.

4. Stir noodles and remaining Parmesan into hot chicken mixture. Heat and stir until bubbly. Divide among 4 individual casserole dishes. Top each with some of the bread crumb mixture. Bake 5 minutes or until top begins to brown. Makes 4 servings.

A couple of notes: First of all, I used 2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts which I cooked, then shredded. Second, I baked this in one casserole dish, rather than dividing the mixture into 4 dishes.
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Now for the soup....

Tonight, (after more shovelling) I was in the mood for soup, not leftover chicken and noodle casserole. My husband had taken the "lion's share" of the leftover casserole to work for his lunch. Still, I was left with 1/4 to 1/3 of a casserole to divvy out for dinner. And so I decided to make it into a soup. You'd never know that this delicious, creamy soup was created by scraping a casserole dish clean! So good!

Here's what I did:

Creamy Garlic Parmesan Chicken and Noodle Soup aka Soup from Leftovers

1/4 to 1/3 of a recipe of leftover Garlic Parmesan Chicken and Noodles
4 cups chicken stock or broth
1 can reduced fat cream of chicken soup
4 cups fresh baby spinach, chopped

In a soup pot or large saucepan, bring the chicken broth and cream of chicken soup to a boil. Add in the leftover chicken and noodles. Heat through. Stir in the spinach and heat until wilted.

*Note: if you're opposed to using processed cream of chicken soup in this recipe, then leave it out. It was good without the Cream of Chicken...however, I was going for a quick fix to make a creamier soup and the condensed soup worked beautifully!

This was a seriously yummy soup and it was ready in minutes! Gotta love that!