Something New for Dinner

Two weeks ago I had two coupons for the Campbells Gourmet Bisques soups. They were also BOGO at Publix. So I bought 2. I bought the Butternut Squash ones because butternut squash soup is amazing, but kind of a pain in the ass to cook. I mean seriously. Making it gets a pot dirty, a pan dirty, requires the oven or a steamer cage. Gets the blender dirty. Handling scalding hot chunks of squash. With my toddler screaming "WANT IT! WANT IT! PEEEEEESE! AHH! AAAHHHHH! MOMMMMIIIIIEEE?!"

Delicious Laziness Enabler

Yeah no. Anyhow, the bisques are delicious on their own. It says 2 servings on the box (I think) but on it's own it's pretty much enough for one person. I used the first box/carton thing as a side dish. It was very well received. I always mix in heavy cream. I never measure, I just look at it and pour it in until I think there's enough. That's pretty much how I do things in general. Add until it looks right.

Anyhow. Thursday is baked chicken night. I defrosted chicken thighs dutifully this mornign but I really didn't feel like cooking anything fancy. I didn't want to have to cook vegetables on the side either. I baked bread earlier. Additional effort was not forthcoming. Bunnyworm also has diarrhea as a result of eating too many tomatoes. I've been cleaning that up all day.

So I looked in my pantry, muttering to myself to see what I could do to this chicken to make it delicious and nutritious without having to expend a lot of effort. I saw the box and I decided it looked good.

First I got on Supercook to see if what I was doing had been done before, but I quickly lost patience with scrolling through looking at things that were going to take WAAAAAAAAAAAAY more effort than I wanted to put into this.

Then I got on google. What herbs go with butternut squash? I got any number of combinations, but I decided to go with Sage & Onion. Goes well with chicken, goes well with butternut squash. Not complicated.

Then I looked in the fridge. There are always veggies in my fridge. I decided to grab some sliced mushrooms. The white ones you find in supermarkets, but portabella mushrooms would have worked just as well.

I got my fancy square glass baking dish (bought on clearance at publix) and plopped the defrosted chicken thighs out of their ziplock back into it. Then, because I didn't want raw chicken on my hands (ewww!) I used a clean fork to arrange them. Got my rubbed sage and sprinkled it on the chicken. Then I broke out my dried minced onion and shook it good and hard over the chicken.

Then I grabbed a bowl, the bisque, and my carton of heavy cream. I made scallop mushroom alfredo a few days ago. I had some left over and I'd hate to let it go to waste. I put the bisque in the bowl and poured in the cream. I have no idea how much I put in there. Let's just say 3/4 a cup. Give or take a few ounces. I used the raw chicken fork to mix it up. The bisque is really thick when it comes out of the carton. The cream dilutes it nicely.

I layered the mushrooms over the chicken. and poured the bisque/cream mixture over.

Then, because it felt right, I sprinkled walgreen's "NICE" brand italian blend cheese over the top thinly. I put this in the oven at 450 degrees. This is probably too hot, but it's the temp I'd baked the bread at and I didn't remember to turn it down (whoops).

I baked it for a really long time. Probably an hour, but 45 minutes would have been sufficient.

When I pulled it out of the oven, I sprinkled another thin layer of cheese over the top.

Daddybeast loved it. Bunnyworm loved it. I loved it. Wafflecat got yelled at for trying to lick my bowl.

Here is a recipe in a more comprehensible list:

Cream of Butternut Chicken
Makes 4 Servings

4 chicken thighs (bone-in, skin on/off per preference)
1 tbsp Rubbed Sage
1/2 tsp Dried Minced Onion
1 carton Campbells Gourmet Butternut Bisque
3/4 cup Heavy Cream
4 oz White/Portabella Mushrooms sliced (supermarkets tend to sell them in 8oz packages)
1/4 cup mozzarella or "italian blend" shredded cheese divided into 2 equal measures

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

1.) Place chicken thighs in oven safe pan and sprinkle sage and onion over.
2.) Combine bisque and cream in bowl
3.) Layer mushrooms over chicken
4.) Pour bisque/cream mixture over chicken and mushrooms
5.) Scatter half of the cheese over the top of the bisque/chicken/mushroom mess
6.) Bake for 45 minutes (or longer--the chicken only gets tenderer, just make sure the top doesn't burn)
7.) Remove from oven and scatter remaining cheese over the top.

I wish I took pictures, but Daddybeast was into this as soon as this came out of the oven...