Chicken Loaf with Ritz Crackers

Here is the recipe:

Chicken Loaf with Ritz Crackers from the collection of Dorothy, written in her hand.

Cook chicken, remove bones and cut up meat. Salt to taste. Place in a large mixing bowl.
Add: 1 1/2 cups cubed cheese, 1 1/2 cups diced celery, 1 medium onion chopped, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1 can mushroom soup, 2 eggs beaten, 4 cups Ritz cracker crumbs, 6 cups chicken broth.
Mix all together. Top with additional crumbs. Do not spread to deep in pan. Bake 45 min @ 350o

I decided early on in committing to this project that I would not be a slave to the recipes and that it would be OK to substitute reasonable items. Leave other items off and basically change things up as needed. After all that is how my mom cooked. So I made a few modifications on this recipe.

The recipe did not say how much chicken to use so I guessed and figured I would use about one whole chicken. I had some leftover thigh meat, a couple of leftover chicken strips and a couple of KFC thighs and drumsticks and decided to use it all.

No cubed cheese so I used grated sharp cheddar. Only one sleeve of Ritz Crackers so I added some Oyster crackers and a leftover biscuit from the KFC. I had some left over sauteed onions and poblano chile that I wanted to use and finally, 2 cans of chicken broth made everything really soupy so I was not going to go for the full 6 cups.

It turned out OK. The texture was a bit "mushy" but the flavors were good and my son who told me he hates stuffing ate two helpings. Is this a repeat? Maybe, maybe not. I guess it depends on whether or not I have a bunch of left over Ritz crackers that need to get used up.

Dorothy's Son