Creamy Chicken & Mushroom Casserole

I had a plan today to make an easy throw it together crockpot casserole. But like many of you my day got a little crazy and I ran out of time so if I wanted to eat that night I had to cut corners.This didn't take to long to whip up roughly a 1/2 hour prepping and an hour to bake. not to bad  and it was pretty tasty also. Plus I think the chicken thighs turned out better cooked this way. I also seem to have a thing for celery, not sure what that's about maybe because I know it is good for my arthritis, I seem to add it to a lot of my dishes.. And of course you can adjust this recipe to add your own favorite vegetables.It is also good for the kids as it has no white wine in it . so give it a try and let me know what you think.

What you need:

1/2 to 1kg boneless chicken thighs, cut each thigh into 3-4 pieces
(I used about 1/2 kg for myself and got at least 3 meals from it)
1 x can cream of chicken condensed soup
1 stick of celery, diced
6 large button mushrooms, sliced ( use as many as you like though)
About half a leek, sliced
2 small carrots, sliced thinly
roughly 1/2 to 1 cup sour cream 
1/2 to 1 cup thickened cream
3/4 sprigs fresh thyme
A good grinding of black pepper  (1 teaspoon)
Salt to taste.( I find there is enough salt in the tinned soup  so I don't add any)
about 1 cup of chicken stock
 juice from 1/2 lemon (optional)

What to do:

 1. heat pan with  a little olive oil, add chicken pieces and brown  and render off any fat. then transfer the chicken to a casserole dish.
2. In the same pan saute the mushrooms and leek.Transfer that to the casserole dish also
3. Again in the same pan cook the celery and carrots ...use a little of the chicken stock to soften them up quickly. then pop all that into the casserole dish also .
4. Onto the sauce, using the same frying pan pour in the tinned soup, cream, sour cream, thyme, pepper, and a little of the stock. stir and simmer until it becomes a little thicker and reduces, add the lemon juice (optional)... Pour the sauce over the chicken, give it a bit of a mix, and bake in the oven.200 fan forced for about 45 min to an hour....
5.Serve with shell pasta or mashed potato .

Creamy Chicken & Mushroom Casserole