Buffalo Chicken Casserole

As promised, last nights recipe! Speaking of last night, did anyone watch the woman's gymnastics team competition? It was absolutely amazing! The dedication that those girls have at such a young age is inspiring. When my alarm went off this morning for my morning workout, I thought "If a 13 year old has the dedication to make it to the Olympics, then I can get out of bed to workout for 30 minutes." Phelps also won his 19th Olympic metal!! I don't even know where to start with that. Some people dream and work their entire lives just to make it to the games, but this mofo has gone to 3 different games AND won 19 metals...and he still has more events left! Truly amazing!! What's not amazing are the selfish pricks on Facebook that think it's funny to post the results before most of us can watch. I had a "friend" do this yesterday with the gym results and literally wanted to kick his ass. You know he was that little bastard child in 2nd grade telling all his classmates that Santa isn't real. You would think he would have grown out of it, or gotten his ass kicked, but some people just don't grow up. In any event, I've blocked his post for the rest of the Olympics and maybe permanently.

This recipe deserves at least a bronze. It was good points wise, filled my urge for chicken wings, and made enough for leftovers. The only thing that I would change is adding more hot sauce to the sauce, it needed a bit more spice in our opinion. The veggies were perfect and would be a great way for parents trying to get their kids to eat them. I got the recipe from a Cooking Light magazine and stayed fairly true to the recipe. The only changes I made were adding a packet of spicy ranch seasoning, cut down on the amount of pasta (saving points!), added more hot sauce, and added a bit of low fat cheddar cheese to the sauce. The boyfriend liked it but though it needed some more spice as well. All in all, it was a great meal that I will definitely make again WW P+ 9 points per serving, 8 servings in total.

 Buffalo Chicken Casserole

• 2 cups shredded chicken
• 1/2 box or 5 oz high fiber elbow macaroni
• 3 carrots, diced
• 3 stalks celery, diced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 packet Hidden Valley spicy ranch
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 3 cups 1% milk
• 1/3 cup cornstarch
• 1 cup Frank's hot sauce
• 1/2 cup low-fat cheddar, shredded
• 1 tsp salt
• 5 oz blue cheese crumbles
• Green onion for topping

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Cook macaroni for 2 minutes less then box time. Set aside.
3. Saute carrots, celery, and onions in olive oil over medium for 10 minutes.
4. Add shredded chicken, spicy ranch, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes. Turn to low to keep warm while sauce is made.
5. While that is cooking, mix milk and cornstarch together until there are no lumps.
6. Cook over medium heat, stirring often. Don't leave this alone, it will burn.
7. Once the sauce has thickened (coats back of a spoon), remove from heat and add hot sauce, salt, and shredded cheddar.
8. Mix sauce with chicken mixture.
9. In a 9x13 or deep casserole dish, add half the pasta on bottom layer.
10. Add half the chicken mixture to next layer.
11. Add half blue cheese.
12. Repeat steps 8 through 10 ending with layer of blue cheese.
13. Place casserole dish on cookie sheet, and bake for 30 minutes.
14. Top with green onions if desired.

Tips and Tricks

• Shredded chicken is made by boiling chicken breast for 10-12 minutes, then shredding with two forks. Make extra for chicken salad or enchiladas.
• Add extra hot sauce to sauce if you like it more spicy.
• Add additional hot sauce to chicken mixture for even more of a kick. 
• Add full box of pasta if you would like a larger casserole. I cut it by half of the original recipe to save points.