April at Lejeune. The dogwoods are blooming and the base looks almost beautiful, in the way military bases look beautiful when you're not paying attention to the infrastructure and are instead watching your five-month-old baby reach for a flower from his stroller.
Caleb is rolling now. Back to front, front to back, like a tiny commando doing a barrel roll. He's not crawling yet but the intent is there — he gets on his hands and knees and rocks, as if he's doing a countdown before launch. Ryan watches this with the pride of a man whose son is performing physical training at five months.
I've been thinking about the blog. The thing Jen said months ago — 'blog about deployment cooking.' The thing that's been growing in the back of my mind like Dad's tomatoes. I have a notebook full of stories. I have a binder full of recipes. I have a voice — sharp, honest, military-wife funny — that Professor Kim said was 'something.'
But starting a blog requires energy I'm not sure I have. It requires a computer (mine is ancient — the laptop from ODU that wheezes when I open Chrome). It requires time (Caleb's schedule dictates my schedule, and his schedule is: chaos). It requires vulnerability — putting my words out there for strangers, not just in a journal or a student magazine.
For now, I'm posting on social media. Not formally — just sharing what I make. A photo of Mom's chili on Instagram with the caption 'Deployment recipe #47: the one that costs $6 and tastes like home.' A photo of the commissary haul with '$52 for a week of meals for three. Military wife math.' A photo of Caleb in his high chair watching me cook with 'Teaching him early. Dinner is at 1800.'
The responses are... surprising. Military wives I've never met commenting: 'I need this recipe.' 'What's in the chili?' 'My husband deploys next month, I need meal ideas.' They're out there. The Sandras and the Jens and the nineteen-year-old newlyweds. They're looking for what I have.
Mom made her spring chicken salad and sent me the recipe card again — 'In case you lost the first one.' (I didn't lose it. Mom thinks I lose everything. I lose SOME things.)
I made the chicken salad. Posted a photo. Got forty-three comments.
Forty-three people want to know how I make chicken salad.
Maybe the blog isn't as impossible as I thought.
Mom’s spring chicken salad was the recipe that proved something to me — that people out there are hungry for more than just food, they’re hungry for the story behind it. So here’s another one that lives in that same spirit: the Million Dollar Chicken Casserole I’ve been making on rotation since Ryan deployed, because it costs nowhere near a million dollars, feeds us for days, and tastes like the kind of thing you’d bring to a potluck if you wanted people to actually like you. It’s warm, it’s creamy, it’s the meal I make when Caleb finally naps and I have exactly forty-five minutes to feel like a functioning human being.
Million Dollar Chicken Casserole
Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 40 min | Total Time: 50 min | Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 3 cups cooked shredded chicken (rotisserie works great)
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 can (10.5 oz) cream of chicken soup
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided
- 1 sleeve buttery crackers (such as Ritz), crushed — about 1 cup
- 3 tablespoons butter, melted
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish.
- Make the filling. In a large bowl, mix together the cream cheese, sour cream, and cream of chicken soup until smooth. Stir in the garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper.
- Add the chicken. Fold in the shredded chicken and 1/4 cup of the cheddar cheese until everything is evenly combined.
- Fill the dish. Spread the chicken mixture into the prepared baking dish in an even layer.
- Make the topping. In a small bowl, combine the crushed crackers with the melted butter and stir to coat. Sprinkle the cracker mixture evenly over the top of the casserole, then scatter the remaining 1/4 cup cheddar over everything.
- Bake. Bake uncovered for 35–40 minutes, until the top is golden and the edges are bubbling. Let rest 5 minutes before serving.
- Serve. Garnish with fresh parsley if you’re feeling fancy, or skip it — it’s a Tuesday. Serve over rice, egg noodles, or with a side salad.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 420 | Protein: 28g | Fat: 28g | Carbs: 16g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 680mg
About the cook who shared this
Rachel Abernathy
Week 158 of Rachel’s 30-year story
· San Diego, California
Rachel is a twenty-eight-year-old Marine wife and mom of two who has moved five times in six years and learned to cook a Thanksgiving dinner with half her cookware still in boxes. She married young, survived postpartum depression, and feeds her family of four on a junior Marine's salary with a freezer full of pre-made meals and a crockpot that has never let her down. She writes for the military spouses who are cooking dinner alone in base housing and wondering if they're enough. You are.
