The Cheese Stands Alone, part 1

I love cheese. In fact, one of the few Spanish phrases I know and remember is "me gusta queso." So it is no surprise that most of my favorite recipes involve cheese. However, I had two near-disasters (ok, maybe not quite disasters, but close :) when I forgot to include this vital ingredient in two dishes.

The first is a recipe I sent to two friends who had just gotten married. I didn't realize I had left out one of the main ingredients until several months later, and fervently hoped they hadn't actually tried to make this. I called at least one of them and told her of the mistake, and she laughed and fixed the recipe. I re-read my copy very carefully to make sure I didn't mess it up again!

I'll post the recipe for the first dish here, and the second will follow shortly!

Swiss Chicken Casserole

Ingredients:
- 4 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
(Cook chicken in microwave, cut into strips for quicker cooking– no need to add water. Cover with wax paper and microwave about 3-4 minutes, or until the strips are no longer pink. Once the chicken is cooked, you can cut it into small cubes.)
- 2-3 cups cut celery (depending on preference, you can add more or less)
- 2 cups seasoned croutons
- 2 cups shredded Swiss cheese (don't forget! :)
- 1 cup Miracle Whip + 1 cup milk (mix together)
- ½ cup chopped onion
- 10 grinds ground pepper (if you have a pepper grinder--if not, use about a teaspoon of ground pepper)
- ¼ cup walnuts (optional)

Mix together all ingredients except for nuts in a 9 x 13 greased pan. Top with nuts and bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Enjoy!
*A few tips:
--Allow enough time to cut, microwave and cube the chicken. This took me longer than I'd thought at first.
--Sometimes it's easier to mix the ingredients all together in a large bowl and then transfer the mixture to the pan for baking.