Chicken & Hashbrowns

This was a Sunday morning inspiration. Thanks to my friend Joelle sharing this link about homemade frozen hash browns, I found myself this weekend wondering how to marry the chicken I had and my previously-frozen hashbrowns. Here's what I came up with, and I ended up using even more leftovers along the way. This was my cleaning-out-the-fridge dish of the weekend, but it's good enough to make it on to my regular menu as well. Hope you'll try it sometime!

Chicken & Hashbrowns

3-4 (depending on size) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
1 cup of peas, either frozen or canned**
1 can healthy request cream of mushroom soup
1 10-oz pkg Philly Cooking Creme
2 cups frozen hashbrowns (educated guess)
1 tsp. chicken bouillon
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
4 T. melted butter
1 1/2 cups corn flakes, crushed
fresh ground pepper, to taste

Combine soup, creme, bouillon, 2 T. butter, onion & garlic in a large mixing bowl. Stir in peas and chicken, then hashbrowns. Pour into baking dish. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Mix crushed corn flakes with the remaining butter, and sprinkle on top of the casserole. Bake for another 10 minutes until topping is golden brown and crispy.

I'll admit some of these measurements are educated guesses - at the time I was making it, I was just making it up as I went. :)

**I wanted to use broccoli but I didn't have any. I'll probably try this swap next time around, but it was good with peas.

Chocolate-Banana "Milk" Shake

Confession: When I was pregnant I loved blending bananas and chocolate milk as a shake snack. I <3 chocolate. A lot. I also <3 bananas (not quite as much). However, pregnant or not, it's probably not a good idea to indulge in this very often. My light substitute? Chocolate soymilk. Wait! Don't walk away! Even if you're not fooled by the soymilk when drinking it alone, I still think you should try this. Adding the banana really adds a creamy, thick and sweet element to it. I hope you enjoy it!

Chocolate-Banana "Milk" Shake

3/4 cup light chocolate soymilk
1 medium banana

Blend! :) It's an easy pick-me-up! Although, if you have time and you want it to be really cold, put the banana in the fridge for a half hour before blending to make a very cold shake.