Mac N Cheese Chicken Casserole

As we all hunker down to let the Corona Virus passover us (spelling intentional), a lot of us are used to eating out, ordering pickup food, or otherwise and find our culinary skills are lacking.  I figured I would share some very simple, but nutritious recipes when we want to eat in.

Supplies needed:

1 Box Kraft (or other brand) Mac N Cheese mix
2 Large cans of canned chicken (10 oz per can)
1/4 cup of butter (1/2 full stick)
1/4 cup of shredded sharp cheddar cheese (optional, or about 1 good sized handful out of a bag)
1 Can opener
1 metal fork (for stirring)
2 Microwave safe bowls, glass or hard plastic (tupperware wont do)
2 sheets of full size paper towels connected

Now I know the serving size on these makes it seem like you could feed a party out of it, but I'm a big boy and most people are too, so its basically 2-3 people.

Est Time to prepare - 10 minutes

Open chicken cans one at a time, by puncturing then on opposite sides of the can with the can opener and then drain water into the sink.  If you have cats they will come running probably.  Once drained open the rest of the way up.

Dump both cans of chicken into microwave safe bowl #1, and wrap in paper towels (it will pop and try to blow out all over your microwave, this stops that and keeps the moisture in)

Microwave for approx 2 minutes.  Retain paper towels and set cooked chicken aside.

Pour noodles from Mac N Cheese box into bowl #2, and cover noodles with water plus about 3/8 inch.  Stir pretty well until water is cloudy.

Microwave for 2:30 with paper towels saved from before underneath bowl.  (it very likely will boil over and the towels will help avoid making your microwave wet)

Stir noodles again

Microwave an additional 2 - 3 minutes until boiling water subsides under rim of bowl.

While noodles are being heated, take your 1/4 cup of butter and chop into pieces about 1/2 inch wide.

Add cheese powder packet, chicken from earlier, chopped up butter and cheese into noodles and stir.  Stir until butter pieces are completely melted and everything is an even yellow color.  Dont worry about the little amount of water in the bowl, it will harden with the noodle coating and cheese poweder into a snot like consistency.  Dont stir too hard or else the chicken pieces will fragment into little tiny pieces, you want to be semi gentle to get the large chicken pieces still preserved.

You can also add spices such as pepper, or jalapeno slices.  You can also give the cheese a nice mix with parmesan, or if you like it extra "stringy" a slice or two of meunster.  There are a lot of add ons to make this better to suit your taste, but here are some things to avoid (tried and ewwwwwed):

Garlic
Seafood (shrimp, lobster, crab, etc..) instead of chicken
Excessive salt, the butter has some, and so does the cheese powder
Carrots
Cauliflower