By Three weeks into the final semester and I've hit my stride. The clinic is running smooth — I see three to four patients a day, each one a full appointment: assessment, X-rays, cleaning, education. My hands are steady. My voice is calm. I look patients in the eye and tell them what I see and what we need to do and they nod and trust me and that trust is the most valuable thing I've ever earned. More than the GPA. More than the tips. Trust.
Board exam accuracy: 89%. One more percentage point and I hit my goal. Tanisha and I are studying every spare minute — lunch breaks at the clinic, phone calls after the kids are down, Saturday mornings at the library with our review books spread across a table that Ms. Davis has started calling "the dental section." She's not wrong. We've colonized that corner. Our flashcards have flashcards.
Chloe's teacher Mrs. Kim sent a note home: "Chloe is reading at a second-grade level." SECOND GRADE. She's in kindergarten. She's five. She's reading at a second-grade level because her mama made flashcards on index cards and posted them on the fridge and because the librarian gave her Junie B. Jones and because this family believes that reading is how you build a door in a wall that has none. Chloe is building doors. She doesn't know that yet. She just knows she likes books. But someday she'll look back and understand that every book was a brick in a wall she climbed over.
Jayden is adjusting to the Chloe-at-school reality. He still asks for Coco every morning, but now he says it with resignation instead of desperation: "Coco at school?" Yes, buddy. Coco at school. And then he goes to Mama's and plays with his trucks and eats his goldfish crackers and waits. He's learning to wait. It's the hardest skill for a two-year-old and the most important skill for a human. Patience. The thing that kept me alive through two years of dental hygiene school — I'm watching my son learn it in miniature, one school morning at a time.
I made a chicken and broccoli casserole this week — shredded chicken, steamed broccoli, cream of mushroom soup, cheddar cheese, served over rice. It's one of those recipes that food snobs look at and think, "Cream of mushroom soup is not a real ingredient." To which I say: cream of mushroom soup has fed more American families than any single-ingredient purist has, and it costs 89 cents, and it makes everything taste like someone who loves you made dinner. That's enough. That's more than enough.
This is the casserole I made the week Chloe’s reading note came home, the week my board exam accuracy hit 89%, the week everything felt like it was clicking into place at once. I needed a dinner that could carry the weight of a full, good day without asking anything hard of me — and this one delivered, same as it always does. It’s the kind of recipe that goes straight from the oven to the table to the freezer in batches, which means future-me gets a weeknight off too. I’ll take every win I can get.
Freezer-Friendly Chicken Broccoli Casserole
Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 40 min | Total Time: 55 min | Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 3 cups shredded cooked chicken (rotisserie works perfectly)
- 3 cups broccoli florets, steamed until just tender
- 2 cans (10.5 oz each) cream of mushroom soup
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided
- 3 cups cooked white or brown rice, for serving
- Optional topping: 1/2 cup crushed Ritz crackers mixed with 1 tablespoon melted butter
Instructions
- Preheat and prep. Preheat your oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish and set aside.
- Mix the sauce. In a large bowl, whisk together the cream of mushroom soup, sour cream, chicken broth, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, and salt until smooth and combined.
- Add the fillings. Fold in the shredded chicken, steamed broccoli florets, and 1 cup of the shredded cheddar. Stir until everything is evenly coated.
- Assemble the casserole. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish and spread into an even layer. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of cheddar over the top. If using the cracker topping, scatter it evenly over the cheese.
- Bake. Bake uncovered for 35–40 minutes, until the top is golden and the edges are bubbling. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.
- Serve. Spoon over hot cooked rice. For freezing, let cool completely, portion into freezer-safe containers, and freeze for up to 3 months. Reheat covered at 350°F for 25–30 minutes or until warmed through.
Nutrition (per serving, casserole only, without rice)
Calories: 340 | Protein: 29g | Fat: 16g | Carbs: 18g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 820mg