When life is crazy - casseroles to the rescue.

Wednesdays are kind of crazy days for us. After a day of remote learning we have a few minutes to breathe before virtual violin lessons. At least that's where we are as of this writing (September 2020). Here's hoping that when this posts, things will be a bit different. Anyway I like to have a casserole or easy dinner ready to toss into the oven before lessons so after we can pull it out and eat right away. We are blue hairs and eat at 4:45 most nights. I had this casserole ready to go in the oven a tad early so we even had time for a few rounds of Uno. The good news is the lesson went great, Uno was fun, and this casserole was loved by all in my house. I like that you can use a bag of veggies, precooked chicken, and a boxed corn bread mix so it's easy and often things we already have in our house. It's like pot pie with a cornbread top. So good. Perfect cozy dinner on a fall night... but it's winter as of this posting... still perfect!

Cornbread Casserole Recipe
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut in to cubes OR 2 cups cooked chicken in bite size pieces
1/4 cup diced onions
1/3 cup butter
1 bag frozen mixed vegetables
1/3 cup flour
2/3 cup milk
1 1/4 cup chicken broth
Salt and pepper to taste
1 box cornbread mix prepared according to directions on box

If cooking chicken: heat 2 Tablespoons of oil in a large pot. Add cubed chicken and season with salt and pepper. Cook until chicken is done, about 10 minutes. Drain chicken from the pot and set aside.
Melt butter in a large pot on the stove over medium high heat. Add onions and cook for about 2 minutes. Add in bag of frozen vegetables and cook until warmed through and no longer frozen.
Stir in flour and cook for 2 minutes, stirring continuously.
Whisk in chicken broth about 1/2 cup at a time to avoid lumps. Once all the chicken broth is added, add in the milk and whisk to combine. Allow mixture cook for a few minutes to thicken. Stir in cooked chicken and cook for another minute or so until the entire mixture is hot. Remove from heat.
Pour the mixture in to a 9 x 9 square baking pan or any baking dish similar in size.
Top the mixture with the prepared cornbread mix, smoothing the mix out to cover the top of the pie.
Bake according to the directions on the cornbread mix. My mix said to bake at 400 degrees for 22-26 minutes. Make sure to bake long enough so that the bottom of the cornbread bakes through.
Once the bread is done, remove from oven and allow to sit for 5 minutes before serving.