If I have mushrooms, cream of broccoli soup, egg noodles, and some chicken breast, I can make a casserole, right?

I mean, I can just mix this crap together and bake it and it will be like, dinner?

Signed,

Hungry, lazy, and poor

That sounds like an excellent casserole!

I can just mix this crap together and bake it and it will be like, dinner?

Yes. You'll need to add more water for the noodles.

For a casserole, you traditionally want a starch as the base, some other things (meat, veg) so that you don't only have starch, and a sauce (cream soup definitely counts) with either eggs, cream, or cheese to bind it all together. You've got it all covered (and with the formula, you can improvise at will.)

Oh, so do I need to add some parmesan or something to bind it?

I'm sauteeing the mushrooms, shallots, and chicken in a bit of olive oil. Since everything is cooked, I should only have to bake for maybe twenty minutes, I'm thinking?

Chicken breast was on sale, I got a big pack of six for 13 bucks, and I figure the total cost of my casserole is 5 bucks and it'll be good for about three meals, if not more, if I don't share with my neighbor. I also got a bag of salad for two bucks, and i have tomato and feta in the fridge.

So, um, not the healthiest of meals, but cheap and good for a few dinners and/or lunch.

Oh, so do I need to add some parmesan or something to bind it?

Nah, I meant that the cream soup will do the job -- basically, it has to be a liquid/sauce so that it'll mix with everything in a way that dry ingredients just never do, and have some kind of protein in it (the cream in a cream soup will work, but cheese or eggs are the other classics) to make it set up when cooked.

That said, I've rarely met a savory food that wasn't improved by a little parmesan.

I think you have an excellent and tasty plan.

do we think the elephant can actually paint, aka recreate its surroundings, or that it's learned a trick, like putting a hat on a human?

I hope it's a trick. Just because I'm not ready to share space with too much sentience. I think it's between elephants and octopodes, and at least the octopodes are in the water.

If the noodles are already cooked, you probably won't need extra water. The soup should hold it together.

Okey! Casserole in the oven, dinner will be ready in twenty, and then I can have my pain medication. Rock.

That sounds delish, Allyson.