Swiss Chicken Casserole

I got this recipe from the Three C’s Celebrates cookbook. 3Cs is the preschool that Hans and Libby attended before the turn of the century. The cookbook was published the year before Hans started there, so I don’t know the lady who submitted this recipe. Her name is Barbara Ervin. We bless her.

• 3-4 cups cooked, shredded chicken
• 2 cups diced celery
• 2 cups (about 1 5-oz bag) seasoned croutons
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 6-8 oz. grated Swiss cheese
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds

(Notes about the ingredients: 4 cups of shredded chicken is quite a bit. I usually only use 3-4 chicken breasts cooked and shredded, or whatever leftovers I have, as long as it’s at least 2 cups. *Useful hint: in large quantities, you can cook boneless-skinless chicken and when they cool down you can dump them in your Kitchenaid stand mixer and use that to shred them in about 30 seconds. What, you don’t have a Kitchenaid stand mixer? Oh. Sorry. In other news… *Sometimes I run the celery through the mini-chopper because some people object to celery. *You can dice your onions, you can use frozen onions, you can use minced dehydrated onion. You don’t even have to rehydrate them. *I measure the mayonnaise by displacement method with the milk, then mix them together in the measuring cup. *Grated Swiss comes in 6-oz bags, and that’s really enough, but if you’re grating off the block, it’s about 2 cups. *You can use sliced almonds, but slivered is better.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all the ingredients except the almonds, and pour them into your favorite casserole dish. (If you use a 9×13, you definitely want to watch this after 20 minutes, because it will only be a thin layer...unless you use 4 cups of chicken, I guess. I usually use a round Pyrex casserole.) Top it with slivered almonds. Bake it in your preheated oven, uncovered, for 30-40 minutes (unless you use a big flat pan, then less time).

Traditionally we serve this with a side of cinnamon applesauce. We don’t get applesauce anymore because it has lots of sugar in it, but we still like the casserole.