By Late June. The factory schedule has been the same Monday-through-Friday eight-hour rotation for three weeks now. The household has stabilized into the kind of steady working-week-plus-Sunday-cook rhythm that the spring did not allow. The Broken Arrow weather hit ninety-four degrees on Thursday afternoon, which is the kind of temperature the rental house’s old central AC has been struggling with across the past three summers. Dustin came over Saturday morning at eight with the small bag of HVAC parts he had pulled from the shop’s scrap-bin (with permission from his apprentice supervisor) and serviced the system in under ninety minutes.
The AC has been running like a new unit since Saturday afternoon. Mama said at dinner Sunday night that she had forgotten what the rental house felt like at a steady seventy-two-degree indoor temperature. She had forgotten because the AC had been weak for three summers and the household had been getting by with the small box fans across the past three Augusts.
Sunday I made chicken broccoli stuffed shells because the format scales for a week of leftovers and because Mama had been wanting a casserole that would carry her through the heat-week lunches without requiring her to cook for herself across her shifts. Jumbo pasta shells stuffed with shredded chicken, broccoli, ricotta, parmesan, and mozzarella, baked in a creamy parmesan sauce with mozzarella on top. Forty minutes covered, fifteen uncovered. Twenty-four shells across two pans. Half went into the freezer in single-serve foil packets for August.
Chicken Broccoli Shells
Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 40 min | Total Time: 1 hr | Servings: 8
Ingredients
- 12 oz medium pasta shells
- 2 cans (10.5 oz each) cream of chicken soup
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 3 cups cooked chicken, shredded or diced
- 3 cups fresh or frozen broccoli florets, chopped into small pieces
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Cook pasta. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook shells according to package directions until just shy of al dente (they will finish cooking in the oven). Drain and set aside.
- Blanch broccoli. If using fresh broccoli, blanch florets in boiling water for 2 minutes, then drain and rinse with cold water. If using frozen, thaw and pat dry.
- Make the sauce. In a large bowl, whisk together cream of chicken soup, sour cream, chicken broth, garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper until smooth. Season with salt to taste.
- Combine filling. Add the shredded chicken, broccoli, 1 1/2 cups of the cheddar cheese, and the Parmesan to the sauce. Stir to combine. Fold in the drained pasta shells and mix until everything is evenly coated.
- Assemble. Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish (or two 8x8-inch dishes for easier freezing). Pour the pasta mixture in and spread evenly. Top with the remaining 1/2 cup cheddar cheese.
- Bake or freeze. To bake immediately: cover with foil and bake at 350°F for 30 minutes, then uncover and bake an additional 10 minutes until bubbly and golden on top. To freeze: cover tightly with plastic wrap and then foil, label, and freeze for up to 3 months.
- Reheat from frozen. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Remove plastic wrap, recover with foil, and bake at 350°F for 40–45 minutes covered, then 10 minutes uncovered. Internal temperature should reach 165°F.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 430 | Protein: 28g | Fat: 18g | Carbs: 38g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 780mg