BBQ Chicken Quinoa Casserole — One Thousand Four Hundred and One

Two hundred weeks. Almost four years since the whiteboard. Almost four years since I was eighteen and counting down to graduation and eating Mom's chicken casserole and wondering what came next. What came next: everything. Ryan. Caleb. Deployment. PPD. California. The blog. The column. One hundred and ninety-nine weeks of life that I couldn't have predicted and wouldn't trade. The numbers, because numbers matter: - Weeks as a wife: 100 - Weeks as a mother: 61 - States lived in since marriage: 2 - PCS moves: 1 - Deployment months survived: 7.5 - Blog posts published: 22 - Column articles: 4 - Total views: 225,000 - Recipe cards in my binder: 87 (Mom's original 52 plus 35 I've collected) - Meals cooked: approximately 1,400 - Times called Mom: every single night One thousand four hundred meals. Give or take. In two years of marriage, living in two states, I've cooked fourteen hundred meals. That's fourteen hundred times I stood in a kitchen and put food on a table and said, through the act of cooking: we're here. We're okay. Dinner is at 1800. Mom has been cooking for thirty years. That's approximately 10,950 meals. TEN THOUSAND. Each one a decision, a recipe, a standing-in-the-kitchen-at-five-PM. Each one an act of love that nobody asked for and everybody needed. I wrote a blog post about this. About the math of cooking. About what 10,000 meals means when measured in love instead of calories. About my mother, who has stood at a stove ten thousand times and has never once said 'you're welcome' because she doesn't think of it as a favor. She thinks of it as the job. The work. The thing she does. But it's not just a job. It's the thing that held us together when everything else was falling apart. It's the thing I'm doing now, in my own kitchen, for my own family. And someday Caleb will do it in his. The post went up Monday. Eight thousand views by Wednesday. Mom called. 'You counted my meals?' 'I estimated.' 'Your estimate is low.' Of course it is. Of course Donna Abernathy has cooked MORE than ten thousand meals. The woman is inexhaustible. I made her chicken and dumplings tonight — the two hundredth week's dinner. Perfect dumplings. Mom's recipe, my hands. One thousand four hundred and one.

Mom’s chicken and dumplings was meal number 1,401—and while that recipe lives in my handwritten binder and belongs to her hands as much as mine, I wanted to share something from my own collection that carries the same energy: chicken, a one-dish meal, the kind of thing you make on a night that means something. This BBQ Chicken Quinoa Casserole has been in my rotation since California, and it’s exactly the kind of dinner that says we’re here, we’re okay, dinner is at 1800—hearty enough to feel like a celebration, simple enough for any ordinary Tuesday that turns out to matter.

BBQ Chicken Quinoa Casserole

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 35 min | Total Time: 50 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 2 cups cooked chicken, shredded (rotisserie works great)
• 1 cup dry quinoa, rinsed
• 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 3/4 cup BBQ sauce, divided
• 1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup frozen corn, thawed
• 1 medium red bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Sliced green onions and sour cream, for serving (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven. Heat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish and set aside.
2. Cook the quinoa. In a medium saucepan, bring chicken broth to a boil. Add quinoa, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 15 minutes until liquid is absorbed. Fluff with a fork and set aside.
3. Sauté the vegetables. While quinoa cooks, heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and bell pepper; cook 4–5 minutes until softened. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more.
4. Combine filling. In a large bowl, stir together the cooked quinoa, sautéed vegetables, shredded chicken, black beans, corn, 1/2 cup BBQ sauce, smoked paprika, cumin, salt, pepper, and 3/4 cup of the cheddar. Mix until evenly combined.
5. Assemble. Transfer mixture to the prepared baking dish and spread in an even layer. Drizzle remaining 1/4 cup BBQ sauce over the top, then sprinkle with remaining 3/4 cup cheddar cheese.
6. Bake. Bake uncovered 20–25 minutes, until cheese is melted and bubbly and edges are lightly golden.
7. Rest and serve. Let casserole rest 5 minutes before serving. Top with sliced green onions and a dollop of sour cream if desired.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 390 | Protein: 29g | Fat: 13g | Carbs: 41g | Fiber: 6g | Sodium: 630mg