1.  I grew up in the days of feathered hair, bell bottoms, and Friday night roller skating. We had banana seats on our bikes and stayed out with our friends ’til the streetlights came on.

2.  Ah, let’s hear it for the seventies. You can almost hear a Bee Gees soundtrack running in the background.

3.  You know what else I grew up on? Casseroles. I’m pretty sure every mom raising a gaggle of kiddos around that time pulled a steady supply of these from their copies of Good Housekeeping and Better Homes and Gardens.

4.  I haven’t made a lot of casseroles. All of my people have had one objection or another to anything I’ve tried.

5.  The hubby said he’d never really been a fan; the kids complained because their foods were touching. Through sheer force of will I never actually responded with “duh, of course they’re touching, I just scooped them all out of this handy 9×13 pan!”

6.  So for years I’d given up the ghost on casseroles, figuring I just wasn’t gonna get a chance to enjoy the handy dandy convenience of an entire meal in one pan. But then I saw something I just couldn’t ignore.

7.  How many of you had parents who made one of those chicken, rice, and broccoli concoctions? It had cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup in it – something to make the rice nice and creamy – and was comfort in a bowl. I remember my mom’s casserole fondly. Not as fondly as her pierogies but you know, it was good.

8.  So when I saw this Creamy Chicken Broccoli and Rice from Valerie’s Kitchen I had to make it. I just had to. Visions of yummy creamy rice goodness were stuck in my head and I decided enough was enough, it had been ten years and the family could dig down deep to try again.

9.  I’d like to say up front I was a huge fan. Huge. Knowing my kids the way I do I diced all the veggies to the teeniest possible size – I knew mushrooms might be a hard sell, I didn’t need giant brown lumps making my job harder.

10.  Even with teensy pieces both kids were a hard no on the mushrooms but otherwise got on board – I guess they’ve relaxed their stance on the foods touching thing. BrightSide liked it, too. So if you’re looking for a casserole flashback click on over and check it out. Make your mama proud.