Recipe for Alice Springs Chicken Casserole

This is another recipe from the past, back before I had a digital camera to photograph the food. Now that I have a camera, I see it's hard to get a good photo of a creamy, cheesy dish like this, but it's delicious! This is a rich dish, probably not officially approved by the South Beach Diet, but I did use Canadian Bacon which is lower in fat and it's certainly low in carbs. I think it's good to have something decadent tasting once in a while when you're dieting, and I would eat this sometimes for a treat.

At Outback Steak House they have a dish called "Alice Springs Chicken". It's chicken breasts topped with bacon, mushrooms, cheese and a creamy sauce. My brother-in-law Kelly re-created the dish at home and I used his version as the inspiration for this casserole.

Alice Springs Chicken Casserole
(Makes 8-10 servings, recipe inspired by one created by my brother-in-law Kelly)

Ingredients:
8 boneless skinless chicken breasts
stock or water for cooking chicken
1/4 tsp. each sage, thyme, and onion powder (for cooking chicken)
1 pound sliced mushrooms
(or more would be even better)
8 oz Canadian Bacon, diced
1 bottle (16 oz.) Alfredo sauce (I used Classico, choose the one with lowest carb grams)
3/4 - 1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated low-fat sharp cheddar
1 cup chicken stock
1 T flour

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375. Spray rectangular casserole dish with non-stick spray. Cook chicken breasts in stock (water with chicken soup base would be fine for this) seasoned with thyme, sage and onion powder until chicken is cooked through, about 20 minutes. Let chicken cool, then pull apart into bite sized pieces and layer in bottom of casserole dish.

Saute mushrooms in a little olive oil until all water has been released, then layer mushrooms on top of chicken. In same frying pan, saute Canadian bacon a few minutes, just to release flavor and slightly crisp it. Layer Canadian Bacon on top of mushrooms.

Put chicken stock into saucepan and boil to reduce by 1/3. Mix flour with 2 T cold water, then whisk into chicken stock and cook 5 minutes, or until slightly thickened. Whisk in Alfredo Sauce, and heat through, then pour sauce over the chicken mixture in casserole dish , letting sauce run down to bottom of pan. Cover with foil and bake about 20 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle with cheese and bake another 10-20 minutes, until cheese is melted and slightly browned and casserole is bubbly.

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South Beach Suggestions:

This is definitely a "once in a while" dish for The South Beach diet, and due to the flour it would be best for phase 2 or 3. Serve it with something like Georgette's Greek Zucchini and a green salad. Could also serve over Uncle Ben's Converted Rice, which is lower on the glycemic index than other types of white rice.