Who Says You Can't Eat Potato Chips for Dinner?

Certainly not me. In need of comfort food after all of this rain as well as a recipe that wouldn't take too much time (because I had to go grocery shopping after work -- yuck), I pulled out an old favorite from my mom's recipe box: chicken and almonds. The name makes it sound almost wholesome. But if you know me, then you know better. Check out the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 cups boiled chicken
1/2 cup almonds
2 tablespoons chopped celery
2 tablespoons chopped onion
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup grated American cheese (I had to go low rent with the processed version, as it was all I had, having forgotten to buy the real stuff on my Acme run.)
1 bag potato chips, crushed (The recipe never specified just what size this bag should be. I used about 1/3 of an 11 oz-er.)

Directions:

Combine ingredients in an 11" x 9" casserole dish and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. It doesn't get any easier than that. Unless, of course, you're resuscitating one of those awful boxed casserole things. To be fair, I did mess this dish up once, back when I was still living with my parents. The original recipe called for salt as well as potato chips, and in true lemming fashion I went ahead and added both without considering the horrifically salty consequences. At the time my mom and I attempted to eat it. But that wasn't happening, not even after we tried to dilute it with some Romaine. My mom asked what had happened, and I said, "I just followed your recipe!" She seemed to think this was funny, saying something like, "Oh, no one actually adds the salt." Needless to say, when I copied the recipe down for my own, I left that part out.

Chicken with Almonds in its unadulterated, full casserole form.

And here nicely plated with a crisp salad and some creamy avocado chunks. The bf doesn't like avocados, which meant more for me. :)