• 10 tablespoons of butter
  • 2/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon celery salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 3/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
  • 2/3 cup milk (I used 1%)
  • 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
  • 4 thinly sliced chicken breasts or 2 large chciken breasts
  • 2 bunches broccoli
  • 1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crumbled
  • 2 tablespoons butter, melted

I love cheddar. It makes me happy.

I love chicken. It keeps me thin. When I only eat chicken.

Unless I add a delicious cheddar sauce to it. Hmmm…thin or delicious? Um…I’ll take the cheddar sauce, just not too much! Deliciously thin!

I traveled back from a television appearance on Virginia This Morning yesterday. I love those guys.

We were talking all things broccoli. It was a yummy segment and as always so much fun. I came home with a bunch or two of steamed broccoli.

This was super delicious and so EASY…only three steps!

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Butter a 9 x 13-inch baking pan.

TIP: I save my butter wrappers in my butter drawer for greasing pans.

Steam your broccoli florets just to soften them up a bit. Do not cook them all the way. Your florets will continent to bake up in the oven.

Immediately place the broccoli florets in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process and to retain the beautiful bright color.

Place your thinly sliced chicken breasts down in the pan.

BJ’s Wholesale Clubs sell large packages of thinly sliced chicken breasts making dinner preparations so easy!

Place broccoli florets on top of your chicken.

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large microwave and crush up one sleeve of reduced fat Ritz crackers into a bowl. I leave a few pieces larger as well.

In a saucepan over medium heat, melt 4 tablespoons of butter. Add 4 tablespoons of flour and whisk for about a minute. Add your chicken stock, celery salt and onion powder and milk and stir until it thickens up a bit. Now add your cheese. Stir until it is completely melted. Season with salt and pepper.

Sprinkle almost all of your cracker crumbs over the broccoli and chicken reserving a bit for the top. Now pour your cheese sauce (oh it’s good!) over each chicken breast. Top with the rest of your cracker crumbs.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for for one hour.

Remove the foil and bake an additional 5 mintues.

All that ‘s left to do is to enjoy!