Chicken Delicious

2 chicken breasts - cooked, cooled, cut up into bite size pieces
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can sliced water chestnuts, drained
1/2 cup mayonnaise
3/4 cup celery, chopped (about 2 stalks)
1 cup shredded cheese
1/2 stick butter, melted
2 cups stuffing mix

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix chicken, soup, chestnuts, mayo, celery and cheese.  Spread into a baking dish sprayed with non-stick spray.  Mix melted butter and stuffing.  Pour over chicken mix.  Bake 45-50 minutes.

This dish has a story.  Here is my co-author, Lillian Mort's portion of the story.

When our sister was ill, my sister, Lorretta, brought dinner to us (I was there helping to care for my sister and, when Lorretta brought dinner, she did the whole thing from salad, to entree, to home made rolls and to dessert!). This time, the entree was Chicken Delicious and it stood up to its name.  Later, after I came home, I added Water Chestnuts and, sometimes, thinly sliced green onions, to her recipe and have been making it ever since.  It's always a hit with shut-ins from church, too.  Sometimes, I make two smaller casseroles and freeze one before baking for a meal on another day.

Now for my part of the story.  When I went to FL for the release party of our cookbook Think With Your Taste Buds - Desserts, Lillian cooked this dish.  It's such a simple recipe that required very little preparation time, giving us more time to spend together just talking.  I really enjoyed the dish so I copied down the recipe and decided to make it myself.  But...I decided to add one more ingredient.  Lillian had added the water chestnuts giving it an extra texture so I added the cheese.

You can bet this recipe will be in our next book Think With Your Taste Buds - Meats.  In the meantime, make it our own recipe by adding your own ingredients.