A Week of Chicken Meal Four: Chicken Stuffing Casserole (dairy, corn, garlic, gluten free)

So, here's a recipe that not only uses left over chicken, but also uses up left over stuffing as well.  Talk about a nice multi-tasker huh?

This is based off of a recipe I used to make all the time when we didn't have allergies to worry about (well when we were UNAWARE of the allergies we should have been worrying about, is what I should say).  It called for Stovetop Stuffing and lots of thickened milk.  I switched up my own stuff in it, made it just as easy and it came out delicious!

Chicken Stuffing Casserole (dairy, corn, garlic, gluten free)

• 1 can full fat coconut milk
• 1/2 cup milk of choice (I used unsweetened coconut milk from the carton)
• 3 TBS arrowroot powder
• 1/4 cup cold water
• 1 1/2 stalks of celery (you can go up to two if you want), diced
• 2 cups cooked left over chicken
• 2 TBS dehydrated onion
• Salt
• Pepper
• 3 TBS seasoning blend of choice (I like my copycat DIY Montreal Steak Seasoning for this, but Erika's Alaskan Seasoning Blend would work well too)
• 2 cups left over stuffing (you can use more or less if you'd like...the recipe is forgiving)
• Olive Oil

Combine celery with about 2 tbs. olive oil in a preheated pan over medium high heat.  Cook for 5 to 10 minutes or until celery is barely tender.  Add canned coconut milk and continue to cook until the coconut milk is heated through and everything is blended well.  Add the 1/2 cup of milk, cooked chicken, onion and seasoning blend.  Stir well to combine and heat for five minutes more or until chicken is heated through and onions are re-hydrated.

Meanwhile, take leftover stuffing and place in a microwave safe container (or place in a aluminum foil covered casserole dish and place in a preheated 350 degree oven before you begin cooking celery...it should just about be heated through when the rest of the casserole is done) and heat on high for 3 to 4 minutes or until stuffing is hot.

Place arrowroot powder in a small container (I use a tea cup) and add cold water.  Mix with your fingers until mixture is smooth and arrowroot powder is incorporated into water well.  Add all at once to the milk mixture on the stove top, stirring constantly.  Mixture will thicken up quickly.  Turn off heat. 

Pour milk mixture into a casserole dish and then evenly distribute stuffing over the top. 
If you like a crunchy top to your casserole, place under broiler for a few minutes to make the top of the stuffing a bit crunchy.

Serve immediately.  Serves four.

The leftovers from this are still pretty tasty, but be warned if you decide to freeze this that the arrowroot powder will start to break down in the freezer.  Also, I'd only reheat this once (don't reheat, not eat all of your serving, place in fridge and then reheat again) as the arrowroot powder will once again break down as you reheat things over and over again, thus you'll end up with a liquidy casserole (it doesn't have the gluten to hold an emulsion like a casserole held together with say a roux would).  It'll still taste good...it'll just be runny.