You don't have to buy canned cream of chicken soup. I'm embarrassed to say this notion only just occurred to me. Instead, I've generally avoided any and all casseroles that call for either cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup. Chalk it up to the childhood trauma that is tuna casserole (and the extreme amounts of sodium). Continuing that lightning bolt, you can make what is basically cream of chicken soup – a béchamel with part chicken broth, part milk. That’s exactly what went down with this King Ranch Casserole.
As you drive north on the 5 through the Central Valley, the interstate is dotted with fast food joints and truck stops and the occasional restaurant advertising “Chinese-American” food. In all the times I’ve done that drive, we have never stopped and I always sort of assumed that they were covering their bases, that Chinese-American food meant they served both chow mein and say, hamburgers.
My first experiences with Chinese-American food were either in a strip mall or in a cramped restaurant with yellowing walls in downtown LA. The order was always the same whether we were unpacking a brown sack of red and white take-out boxes or gathered around a big Lazy Susan for a post-funeral eat your feelings. As an only child you reach an age in life where it seems like there is a lot of Chinese food happening. I sometimes worry that the second round isn’t too many years away.
