Cheesy Chicken And Spinach Casserole

Total Time: 1 hr 5 mins Preparation Time: 25 mins Cook Time: 40 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 4
• 1 1/2 lbs boneless chicken breasts
• 1/2 lb frozen spinach, chopped
• 1/3 lb smoked gouda cheese
• 1/4 cup nonfat milk
• 2 tablespoons butter or 2 tablespoons margarine
• 1/3 cup breadcrumbs (i use italian seasoned)
• 2 tablespoons breadcrumbs
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Recipe

• 1 thaw spinach and preheat oven to 375°f.
• 2 chop chicken into cubes of about 1 square inch ( or 2.5 cm squared).
• 3 cook chicken in skillet with tbsp of vegetable oil until mostly cooked through. do not cook through completely or chicken will get dry.
• 4 cut gouda into strips and melt it in 1/4 cup of fat free milk. (i usually do this in the microwave by cooking and stirring every few minutes).
• 5 while cheese is melting, mix together the chicken and spinach in a casserole dish so that spinach is dispersed evenly throughout. if you have more chicken than spinach, add a bit more spinach keeping in mind it will shrink as it gets cooked!
• 6 as soon as cheese is melted pour immediately over the chicken and spinach. do not mix again! the cheese will melt through the layers as it cooks.
• 7 melt the butter and add to it the breadcrumbs.
• 8 using your fingers or a fork, crumble together the breadcrumb and butter mixture and sprinkle evenly over the top of the dish.
• 9 sprinkle remaining 2 tbsp of breadcrumbs and chili powder evenly over dish.
• 10 bake covered for about 35-40 minutes.