A Dinner in Springtime

The grass is still damp with the morning dew. You can feel the sun's warmth on your shoulders.It's a absolute perfect day to open up the windows and air out the house. There's a certain feel of nostalgia in my heart and I like to cook something from my childhood. I'll start with a chicken casserole then for dessert I'll serve a strawberry pie. My favorite chicken casserole recipe of all time is:


Chicken Breast Casserole Supreme
2 cups chicken breast-cooked and cut up
1 cup celery-sliced
3 hard boiled egg-sliced
1 1/2 cups rice-cooked
1/4 cup water
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 can of cream chicken soup
1 tablespoon minced onion
1/2 cup of water chestnut sliced (or more if desired)
1 tsp. lemon pepper season
1 tsp. lemon celery season(where available)

Mix all ingredients together and put in 9x12'' pan.400 degree oven for 15 min.Remove from oven and sprinkle with buttered bread cubes (4-5 slices) Return to oven for 15 more min. or until bread has browned good. (you can add a vegetable to this. I usually add broccoli)

One of my favorite pies this time of year:

Fresh Strawberry Pie
1 cup water
3 1/4 tablsp. corn starch
1 cup sugar
1-3 oz. box strawberry gelatin
2 drops red food coloring
1-9" baked crust
Enough fresh sliced strawberries to fill crust
Combine water,cornstarch and sugar
Boil 5-6 min. until thick.Stir in gelatin and food coloring.Cool. Arrange sliced berries in crust. Pour above mixture over berries.
Refrigerate until set.( About 1 hour).Top with whip cream and decorate with fresh berries.

Another beautiful pie to serve is buttermilk pie
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup biscuit mix like Bisquick
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.Grease a 9-inch pie pan
Put all ingredients in a bowl and blend for 1 min. with a hand held electric mixer. Pour mixture in a pan.Bake for about 50 mins. or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool for 5 min.
I like to pour thawed frozen strawberries over it but any fruit will be great. Top with whipped cream.