Had some chicken breasts left over from grilling last night and there
is a lot of chopstick-sized asparagus in the stores and also in my
fridge, so I made this, with some changes. I omitted the celery and
used a red and a green bell pepper. I used a little less oregano
'cause I want to say "What's that spice?" and not "That's oregano.",
and I used fat free sour cream and chicken stock, and I used soba
noodles rather than white wheat pasta and omitted the Parmesan. Those
last ones make it Weight Watchers friendly. I was going to take a
picture to post to a.b.f, but the soba noodles make the dish look
downright ugly and unappetizing, even though, IMO, they actually add
to the taste.

Fresh Asparagus and Chicken Casserole

INGREDIENTS:

8 oz pasta
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 to 2 cups cooked diced chicken meat
1 bell pepper, cleaned and diced
2 stalks celery, stripped and diced
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 pound fresh asparagus, snapped and cut into 2 inch pieces
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 2
quart casserole dish.

Cook pasta until al dente. Drain, and rinse under cold water.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook onion until
translucent, 4 to 5 minutes. Add chicken, bell pepper, celery,
oregano, and chicken stock. Bring to a boil, and simmer for a few
minutes. Remove from heat and stir in sour cream.

Spread half of the chicken mixture into the prepared dish. Arrange
asparagus over chicken, spread cooked pasta evenly over asparagus, and
top with the remaining chicken mixture. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Bake uncovered 30 minutes until lightly brown and heated through.

Note: if you use thick asparagus, you might consider adding it when
you add the chicken and other ingredients to the onions, unless you
like it real crunchy.