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Phill’s Chicken Casserole

By
Debbie Dance Uhrig
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This week I thought we’d start the column with a good tip and conclude the column with another good tip. Tip #1, at Christmas 2024 I made a large crockpot of spaghetti for our Board of Directors. For the sauce I used Aldi’s Marinara sauce and their regular spaghetti sauce. I used more of the Marinara than the Spaghetti sauce. Everyone just kept raving about it at the time, and I brushed it off thinking: ‘Yes, I liked it, but they can’t be raving about a canned sauce like this?’ Jump to spring 2025, I’m reading my ‘Cook’s Country’ magazine and famous chefs are commenting on their favorite pre-made products. Sure enough, Aldi’s Marinara was a top pick. So, give it a try.

Our son, Phillip, is the writer of this week’s recipe. He gave me a hard time the other day because he says my recipes are not what the normal cook prepares. True, I don’t like to use lots of canned products, like soup, in my dishes. He works in the insurance business and puts recipes on the back side of his marketing. In the beginning he used good ole’ mom’s, recipes, now he’s writing his own. Actually; I was rather proud of him. He wrote this for the staff , at one of the food pantry’s in Harrison, AR, where he volunteers assisting seniors with Medicare.

He has some pretty standard ingredients in this chicken, broccoli and noodle casserole. When I asked what he served with it, he stated: ‘A green salad.’ His ingredients allow for a few substitutions here and there. His meat is chicken, but I’m not so sure you couldn’t play with the ‘base’ and do a tuna casserole of sorts.

One thing I do, as I know many of you, is prepare chicken in advance and then freeze it for meals to come. Sometimes I can walk in Walmart and pick up discounted rotisserie hens from the day before. I’ll pile in 2-3, and go home and process the meat into pre-measured bags for multiple meals. The carcasses go in a huge pot and I make homemade stock.

Phillip makes comments about the ability to use either fresh broccoli or frozen in the casserole. He also states the importance of using freshly grated cheese over pre-shredded any time you can. This is so very true. There are times when you truly have to use pre-bagged shredded cheese, but you will notice the flavor is different if you will start using fresh grated. Remember powders are added to pre shredded cheese in order to keep them from sticking together.

Before I present Phillip’s yummy recipe, let’s close with another tip. When making a sandwich for travel, put 2 slices in your toaster facing each other, rendering only 2 toasted sides. Use the toasted side for the inside, the toasting keeps the dressings from permeating the bread and getting soggy. The outside is still the nice soft sandwich

bread! Simply Yours, The Covered Dish.

Phill’s Chicken Casserole

1.25lbs, cooked chicken cut into bite size pieces, (20 oz.)

16 oz. Uncooked extra wide egg noodles

32 oz. Frozen broccoli florets or 2 heads fresh, chopped

2 (10.5 oz.) cans cream of chicken soup

2 cups shredded yellow cheese, (fresh is best)

2/3 cup Sour cream or 6 oz.

½ teaspoon garlic powder, or more if you choose

½ cup diced green onions

Salt and Pepper to taste

Gather a 9 x 13 baking pan, and preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a large pot of water, boil noodles until al dente. Just before the noodles are done add the broccoli to the pot. When finished, drain thoroughly. In a large bowl bowl place chicken, chicken soup, sour cream, half the shredded cheese, garlic powder and onions. Gently stir to blend. Once the noodles & broccoli have drained well, add to the wet mixture. Stirring gently so as not to break the noodles. Pour into sprayed baking dish. Bake until dish is bubbling hot, raise oven temperature to 425 and sprinkle remaining cheese over the top. Slide into oven long enough for the cheese to melt rendering a nice topping. Allow to set just a bit before serving. Set out the salt and pepper and enjoy. Should feed at least 6 -7 persons.

By
tammiehoeme
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0

From the Office of Public Affairs | https://www.news.ku.edu

Headlines

KU debaters recognized as best in nation

LAWRENCE — University of Kansas debaters John Marshall, Lawrence, and Graham Revare, Prairie Village, received the Rex Copeland Award as the top team in the country over the season April 3 at the opening ceremony of the National Debate Tournament in Spokane, Washington. Brett Bricker won the James J. Unger Award as the coach of the regular season champions. Three KU teams will compete April 4-7 in the NDT.

Third School of Business dean candidate to present April 8

LAWRENCE – Cheryl Druehl, professor and senior associate dean for faculty affairs and research at the Costello College of Business at George Mason University, will be the third dean candidate to give a public presentation on her vision for the University of Kansas School of Business. Her public presentation is scheduled for 4-5 p.m. April 8 in Room 1020 of Capitol Federal Hall, and it will be livestreamed.

 

KU professor of engineering wins NSF CAREER Award for research into high-performance computing

LAWRENCE — An assistant professor of engineering at the University of Kansas who is working to boost efficiency in supercomputers and other high-performance systems is the winner of a five-year, $558,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. Hongyang Sun’s goal is to combine algorithm and machine learning to empower HPC systems to reduce runtime variability, conflicting demands and the differing structures of dynamic workflows. Considered to be among NSF’s most prestigious awards, CAREER grants are given each year to about 500 early-career faculty.

Full stories below.

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Contact: Scott Harris, KU Debate, 785-864-9878, [email protected], @KansasDebate
KU debaters recognized as best in nation

 

LAWRENCE — University of Kansas debaters John Marshall, Lawrence, and Graham Revare, Prairie Village, received the Rex Copeland Award as the top team in the country over the season April 3 at the opening ceremony of the National Debate Tournament in Spokane, Washington. Brett Bricker won the James J. Unger Award as the coach of the regular season champions.

Marshall and Revare competed at eight tournaments and compiled a preliminary round record of 40-4, elimination round record of 23-3 and were 8-4 at two round-robin invitationals for the top teams in the country. They began the season by winning the Owen L. Coon Memorial Debate Tournament at Northwestern University in September and closed the season by winning the Texas Open Tournament at the University of Texas in February. In between they won the Georgetown College Tournament and the Herbert L. James Debates at Dartmouth. They finished second at the J.W. Patterson Debates hosted by the University of Kentucky and the Run for the Roses Tournament at the University of Kentucky. They took third place at the Franklin R. Shirley Debates at Wake Forest University and fifth at the Harvard College Tournament.

Over the eight tournaments, the KU duo collected a string of individual speaker awards as they were both among the top speakers at every tournament they attended. Marshall was the top speaker at Northwestern, Kentucky, Georgetown and Dartmouth, second speaker at Wake Forest and Texas, and third speaker at the Run for the Roses and Harvard tournaments. Revare was the top speaker at the Run for the Roses and the Texas Open, second speaker at Kentucky and Harvard, third speaker at Northwestern, Wake Forest and Dartmouth, and fifth speaker at Georgetown.

Scott Harris, the David B. Pittaway Director of Debate, said, “This was a remarkable season by two incredibly talented debaters and is one of the most impressive seasons in the history of KU Debate.”

Marshall and Revare are the third KU team to finish the regular season as the top team in the country. KU’s previous winners of the Copeland Award were Mark Gidley and Zachary Grant in 1982 and William Katz and Quaram Robinson in 2018.

Marshall was also named a Summa Cum Laude member of the Academic All American team by the Cross Examination Debate Association for his academic achievements.

The National Debate Tournament will take place April 4-7 at Gonzaga University. Last year, Revare debating with William Soper and Marshall debating with Jiyoon Park met in the Elite Eight of the NDT, with the higher-seeded team of Revare and Soper advancing to the Final Four. They reached the championship debate and finished as the national runners-up to the University of Michigan.

This year, KU will have three teams competing at the NDT. Joining Marshall and Revare are the team of Rose Larson, Milwaukee, and Luna Schultz, Houston, and the team of Ethan Harris and Jacob Wilkus, both from Lawrence.

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KU spent $78.9 million across Kansas on research-related goods and services in FY23.

https://ku.edu/distinction

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Contact: Savannah Rattanavong, Office of the Provost, 785-864-6402, [email protected]
Third School of Business dean candidate to present April 8

 

LAWRENCE — Cheryl Druehl will be the third dean candidate to give a public presentation on her vision for the University of Kansas School of Business.

Druehl’s presentation is scheduled for 4-5 p.m. April 8 in Room 1020 of Capitol Federal Hall. The event will also be livestreamed, and the passcode is 800688.

Druehl is the senior associate dean for faculty affairs and research and a professor within the information systems and operations management area at the Costello College of Business at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.

The fourth and final candidate will be announced approximately two business days before their campus visit. Their presentation will take place 4-5 p.m. April 10 in Room 1020 of Capitol Federal Hall.

Members of the KU community are encouraged to attend each presentation and provide feedback to the search committee. Presentation recordings and online feedback forms will remain available on the search page through April 15.

Further search information, including Druehl’s CV, can be found on the search page.

As senior associate dean for faculty affairs and research at the Costello College of Business, Druehl sees to the success of faculty, including leading college strategic planning, promoting excellence in research and teaching, and overseeing school-level faculty awards and professional development programs. She also collaborates on recruitment, retention, evaluation, and promotion and tenure initiatives while advocating for faculty and research needs.

In addition, Druehl teaches operations management, supply chain management, and management of technology and innovation processes.

Druehl’s research centers on product development, innovation contests and supply chain management. She has published research in journals including the Productions and Operations Management Journal, Journal of Operations Management and Decision Sciences Journal.

Druehl serves as department editor for the Innovation and Project Management department at the Journal of Operations Management. She is an associate editor for Decision Sciences Journal and is on the editorial review board of Productions and Operations Management Journal and IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management. She previously served on the boards of the Production and Operations Management Society’s College of Product Innovation and Technology Management and the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences’ Technology, Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship Section.

Druehl earned a doctorate in business administration and master’s in business research from Stanford University, a Master of Business Administration from the University of Pittsburgh and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of California at Los Angeles.

The School of Business Dean search committee includes representatives from faculty, staff, students and alumni and is being led by Ann Brill, dean of the William Allen White School of Journalism & Mass Communications, and Jason Hornberger, vice provost of finance.

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KU News Service is now on BlueSky.

Follow for KU News Service stories, discoveries and experts.

 

https://bsky.app/profile/kunewsservice.bsky.social

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Contact: Cody Howard, School of Engineering, 785-864-2936, [email protected]
KU professor of engineering wins NSF CAREER Award for research into high-performance computing

 

LAWRENCE — An assistant professor of engineering at the University of Kansas who is working to boost efficiency in supercomputers and other high-performance systems is the winner of a five-year, $558,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.

Hongyang Sun, faculty member in the Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, is the recipient of an NSF Early Career Development (CAREER) award for his efforts to strengthen high-performance computing (HPC) systems by allowing them to do more work as they continue to expand. His goal is to combine algorithm and machine learning to empower HPC systems to reduce runtime variability, conflicting demands and the differing structures of dynamic workflows.

Eliminating such sources of uncertainty makes it easier for big computers — actually, clusters of networked servers together containing millions of nodes — to run together more smoothly, clearing the way for advancements in everything from neuroscience and medical research to climate modeling, artificial intelligence and beyond.

“These sources of uncertainty are becoming increasingly prevalent in today’s HPC platforms, and being able to effectively manage them will provide a significant improvement in runtime performance for a wide range of scientific applications,” Sun said. “This five-year grant will allow me to start an exciting new chapter in my research career and set the stage for influencing how future HPC systems operate at an unprecedented scale.”

Sun’s focus is on resource scheduling, which HPC systems use to govern which applications they run and when. He and his team look to find efficiencies in a combined approach: developing algorithms that will provide more accurate approximations of a range of metrics, from job completion times to resource utilization, while the researchers also use machine learning to train models to deliver accurate predictions for jobs runtimes, performance degradation and structural variability.

“Our hope is to achieve a new level of performance that neither framework — algorithm or machine learning — is able to accomplish alone,” Sun said. “We expect this integrated approach to offer unique perspectives and lay the foundation for the future of HPC resource management.”

Considered to be among NSF’s most prestigious awards, CAREER grants are given each year to about 500 early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research as well as education. The foundation expects recipients’ work to build a firm foundation for a lifetime of leadership in integrating education and research.

The NSF first issued CAREER awards in 1995. Since then, KU’s Lawrence faculty has included 70 recipients: 28 in the School of Engineering, two in the School of Pharmacy and 40 in schools and departments across the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.

Sun, who arrived at KU in 2021, plans to use the grant to empower what he sees as a series of synergistic activities: outreach programs, curriculum development, student recruitment and more. He aims to engage students in K-12 through graduate school with programs and research opportunities that foster success in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and computer science.

Sun said he is grateful for the support he has received from his department, the School of Engineering and KU, and he’s ready to strengthen the performance, reliability, resilience — even energy and thermal efficiency — of large-scale computing systems and applications.

“The CAREER award will allow us to tackle a grand challenge in high-performance computing resource management,” Sun said. “I’m thankful.”

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KU News Service

1450 Jayhawk Blvd.

Lawrence KS 66045

[email protected]

https://www.news.ku.edu

 

Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, director of news and media relations, [email protected]

 

Today’s News is a free service from the Office of Public Affairs

Maximize garden space by growing vertically

By
Guest Columnist
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0

K-State horticulture instructor says a vertical garden offers many benefits in addition to needing less space

Kansas State University horticulture expert Cynthia Domenghini says home gardeners can expand garden space by taking it to the next level…literally.

Domenghini said many crops can be grown vertically, including the more traditional tomatoes, pole beans, and peas as well as vining crops such as cucumbers, melons, squash and gourds.

“Elevating plants off the ground increases the air flow which can help prevent disease,” Domenghini said. “Bringing the height of the produce up also makes harvesting easier.”

Domenghini recommends edible-pod and snow peas because those crops have longer vines and are therefore more appropriate for growing vertically than English (shelling) peas.

Bush-type vining crops produce short vines and are consequently less suitable for vertical growth. “Be mindful of crops that grow large fruit as they could damage the vine if grown vertically,” Domenghini said.

Supporting your vertical garden with a sturdy structure is also important. Domenghini suggests bamboo poles.

“Create a pup tent or A-frame structure by leaning two cattle panels or pallets together and securing them at the top. Alternatively, a single panel can be tied upright to T-posts for support. Plant vining crops at the base and train them to grow upward,” she said.

Domenghini and her colleagues in K-State’s Department of Horticulture and Natural Resources produce a weekly Horticulture Newsletter with tips for maintaining home landscapes and gardens.

Interested persons can subscribe to the newsletter, as well as send their garden and yard-related questions to [email protected], or contact your local K-State Research and Extension office.

How to create a raised bed garden

By
Guest Columnist
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0

A raised-bed garden is a great alternative to grow healthy, delicious vegetables

Is your soil poorly drained or heavy clay? Not enough space for a full garden? Is bending or reaching an issue? A raised-bed garden may be a helpful solution to grow your favorite vegetables.

Benefits of raised bed gardens

The benefits of raised beds are that they can be any shape or size to fit your needs, can be placed where your plants will get adequate sunlight, and can help you avoid soils with poor drainage, low organic matter, or heavy clay and rocks.

Raised beds and crop rotation

A series of raised beds allow gardeners to rotate crops annually from one location to another to reduce disease buildup in soils. For example, growing tomatoes in the same location year after year may allow fungal or bacterial disease such as early blight or fusarium wilt to build up and infect new plants. Extension recommends rotating plants and only return to the original growing location after at least three years.

If building a raised bed doesn’t sound appealing, many vendors offer pre-made beds or kits that require minimal assembly.

Considerations before starting a raised bed garden

  1. Cost – you’ll need to make an initial investment into lumber and fastening hardware, weed barriers, and soil
  2. Water – locate your bed with access to a water supply. Raised beds dry out faster than in-ground gardens
  3. Temperature – raised beds are more subject to changes in temperature. They may heat up or cool down more quickly than the ground
  4. Size – small beds may not support large crops such as melons or pumpkins
  5. Material – wood beds may degrade over time and have to be replaced

Constructing your raised bed garden

We constructed a simple raised-bed garden with a budget in mind, and minimal use of hand tools. We also repurposed some materials such as our weed barrier to save on costs. The goal for this demo was to have the cost be under $100, to use all the lumber, and have less than ten cuts. We achieved this by making the dimensions of our bed match the length of the lumber as purchased. In this case, the purchased lumber was 8-feet in length, so we avoided having to cut the boards by making our bed 8-feet long.

Before any lumber is purchased or cutting begins, a plan should be sketched, and the site evaluated for levelness, sunlight, and access to a water source. Make sure the dimensions have been double-checked so you only have to make one trip to the lumber yard.

Choosing lumber is important

We chose cedar lumber. Cedar contains oils and tannins that make the lumber naturally rot resistant. Untreated lumber is less expensive and can be used, but it will degrade faster. Untreated lumber exposed to the elements may last 3 to 5 years, while a cedar bed may last well past 10 years. Generally, we don’t want to use pressure-treated lumber as it has historically contained chemicals that gardeners would not want leaching into the soil, though the regulations on those chemicals have changed in the past decade.

Tools you will need:

  1. Handsaw, circular saw, miter saw, or table saw
  2. Drill or cordless screwdriver
  3. Fastening hardware (will vary based on board thickness)
  4. Measuring tape
  5. Speed square (optional but very useful for angles, straight-line marking, and cut support)
  6. Clamps

Assembly:

  1. The dimensions of this bed are 8-feet long by 3-feet wide. Each side had a second board stacked on the top to make the bed 12 inches deep (6 inch board width). (You could get by with a  6-inch tall bed, but we wanted to grow carrots in the fall, and so made it a bit deeper to accommodate the root crop). We purchased a 12-foot board that was cut to comprise the 3-foot wide ends (4 cuts = four 3-foot sections). The corners were reinforced with a 2 x 4 that was ripped (cut longitudinally). For even more structure, brackets or 4 x 4 cedar posts can be used to anchor the corners and provide extra support. This demonstration only required 9 cuts for our final design. A larger or different shaped bed may require more sawing and initial costs. When using power tools or saws, make sure you’ve got some dust protection, ear protection, and eye protection.
  2. Once the structure is confirmed, you can begin to clamp the lumber into place and fasten with outdoor wood screws. You can make a simple template with a piece of paper or cardboard to ensure your fastening screws don’t get drilled into each other. Space the location of your drilled holes to prevent intersecting screws and damaging the wood. We used eight screws on each corner to ensure a sound connection.
  3. Once fully assembled and the site removed of existing weeds, the structure can be placed with the bottom of the bed flush with the soil level. Our corner and middle supports were buried approximately 4 to 6 inches and backfilled with soil.
  4. Your lining material may need to be placed first, or you can place the lining into the bed to suit your needs. The only step left is to fill with a high-quality topsoil mixed with organic matter such as compost. Compost will help retain moisture, provide some nutrients, and will ensure your bed is well-drained. Once planted, you may also apply a layer of mulch two to three inches thick to retain moisture, suppress weeds, and protect plants from soil splashing onto the surface during rains, which may spread pathogens to your crops.

This design took one afternoon to construct and another hour or two to place the bed, prep the site, and fill with the soil mix. The materials cost approximately for $80 and another $20 or $30 for the soil mix.

 

Just a Little Light: Dandelions, Reaching toward the Sun

By
tammiehoeme
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0

Dawn Phelps
Columnist

In June of 2009 four of my sisters and our husbands drove to Alaska, traveling the ALCAN Highway through Canada, a 1,700 stretch of road from the U.S. to Alaska.  We drove long days on mountainous, winding roads, over roads with rough patches from the freezing and thawing of sub-zero winter temperatures.

We drove above the timberline.  We drove in the rain.  It was a long hard trip, but it also had its rewards.  What a thrill it was to see mountain goats and mountain sheep up close!

We saw baby bears with their mothers.  Once when we stopped to take pictures from the car of a mother bear with her twin cubs, the mother bear threatenedly ran toward our car.  She was fast!  (Black bears can run up to 30 miles per hour—faster than a man can run.)

When we saw her charging toward our car, I was afraid and cried out to Tom to “Go, go!” as I frantically rolled up my window.  Our car moved forward just as the mother bear reached the edge of the blacktop—we were safe! 

But one of the most remarkable things about the high country of Canada was the dandelions.  At first, we were not sure what we were seeing!  The tall, bright yellow flowers resembled dandelions, but it was difficult to believe that they were!  They were so tall and so big—growing in such unlikely places as they reached for the sun!  

But they were dandelions—the tallest, most beautiful dandelions we had ever seen, at least 12 inches tall and taller!  If there had been no dandelions, there would have been no flowers or bright colors at all in that cool, thin air.

They were growing in patches, above the tree line, surrounded by dry, rocky land where there was little other vegetation—where the winters reach forty below.  Right there at the top of the world the dandelions provided splotches of bright yellow color as they stood proud and strong! 

The dandelions were a bright sight to see in contrast to the dry, barren, brown mountainside!  They had survived where no other flowers were growing!  If it were not for them, there would have no color, no “flowers” high in the mountains!

After that trip through Canada, I have not looked at dandelions in the same way.  I used to only think of them as pesky weeds that mar the beauty of a freshly mowed lawn as their fluffy heads replace their yellow blooms.  But now I have new admiration for the lowly dandelion.  They are resilient; they can add beauty!

Dandelions which are related to sunflowers are tenacious, and their bright flowers are pleasing to the eyes of young children.  They provide intrigue and entertainment for small children who pick little bouquets for their moms or blow away their fuzzy white heads after they have bloomed and gone to seeds.

But dandelions have other valuable uses.  They sometimes provide the first food for honeybees.  All parts of the dandelion are edible and contain Vitamins K and A.  They can be eaten in salads or cooked as greens.  

During wars when food was scarce, dandelions were used as food, and the roots can be used to make tea or coffee.  And people in concentration camps were known to reach through the fence and pick dandelions to help them stay alive.  And birds like to munch on the seeds.

Even though we may not appreciate the appearance of dandelions in our yards, they can still contribute to the world in unique ways and situations.  Similarly, there are ways that any of us can contribute to the world around us as well.

So be tenacious and add some color to the world!  Be deliberate as you sink your roots deep into life.  Every day is a gift, so look for ways to contribute to the good of others.  Like those dandelions in Canada, regardless of your age and circumstances, you too can add beauty to those around you!  

So, stand tall as you share kindness with others while you reach toward the sun!

 

[email protected]

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