One of my kids favorite books is “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.”   Alexander has everything go wrong during his day.  When things go wrong in our house we look at each other and ask, “Are you having an Alexander day?”

Now, I didn’t really have an Alexander day entirely but there was enough going wrong that it was annoying.   One of the kids took out ground beef and chicken to thaw for dinners.  I found a recipe for Chicken Divan Casserole from Food.com that sounded easy and comforting all at the same time.   My favorite part was that it was one recipe that did not use cream of something soups in it!  Yeah!

I went to the grocery store and bought the missing ingredients for the chicken dish, fresh broccoli and chicken bouillon granules. I put the chicken into salted water to boil.  I thought it looked funny as I put it into the pot but I really wasn’t paying attention.   After it boiled it was then I realized what I thought were chicken breasts  was Boneless Country Pork Ribs .

So, what do I do?  Scrap the dish and find something else?  Keep going?  I decided to keep going with the dish I planned.   I had no idea how it would taste or even if it would turn out to be edible.

Verdict:

I couldn’t even get a picture before they started nibbling at the casserole.  All I kept hearing was everyone saying, “Oh, this is good.”  I finally got everyone to leave it alone so I could serve it with a green salad (other half of the divided dish) and garlic bread.

All the way to Kalamazoo everyone kept saying, “I wish I had more.”  I finally told them all about the pork/chicken mix-up and they all said it tasted great so they didn’t care that it was supposed to be chicken.

The only complaint was from my daughter who thought it had too much sauce on it but everyone else thought it was perfect.  I did double the sauce from the original recipe and would do it again.  She complained but she licked the bowl clean.

Ingredients:

• 6 Tablespoons butter, softened and divided
• 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons chicken flavor instant bouillon
• 4 cups fat-free half and half
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoon Dijon mustard, this really adds the flavor
• 1 lb. fresh broccoli crowns, steamed to slightly al dente
• 1 medium sweet onion, diced
• 3 cups cubed cooked pork (or chicken)
• 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
• 1 sleeve butter crackers, crushed finely
• 2 tablespoon butter, melted

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a small skillet over medium-low heat melt 2 tablespoons of butter.  Add diced onion and cook stirring occasionally until onions start to brown.  This may take 12-15 minutes.  Remove onions from heat when starting to brown.
3. While onions are cooking arrange broccoli in the bottom of an ungreased baking dish.
4. Cover broccoli with cooked pork.
5. Melt 4 tablespoons butter or margarine in medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour and bouillon. Gradually stir in milk; cook until mixture boils and thickens, stirring constantly.
6. Once the sauce begins to thicken add mayonnaise and mustard.  Turn down heat to medium-low and continue to stir until smooth.
7. Pour sauce mixture over the pork and broccoli.   Spread evenly around the entire pan.
8. Sprinkle cheeses evenly over the entire pan.
9. In small bowl, combine bread crumbs and 2 tablespoons of melted butter; mix well. Sprinkle over top of casserole.
10. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until thoroughly heated.