Chicken Noodle Casserole

Ingredients

1 12-oz package, medium egg noodles (consider using whole wheat egg noodles)
4 10.75-oz cans low-sodium, low-fat condensed cream of mushroom soup
2 cups milk
2 bags frozen carrots and peas
1 bag frozen broccoli florets
1-2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into 0.5-inch cubes
1-2 cups low-sodium chicken stock
2-4 cloves fresh garlic, minced
2 tbsp freshly-ground black pepper
2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
4 tbsp plain dry bread crumbs
2 tbsp butter or margarine, melted

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°F. While oven is preheating, add water to a large pot and set on high heat. Once water is boiling, add egg noodles and cook as directed on package. As soon as noodles are cooking in the pot, add soup, milk, peas, carrots and broccoli florets to a large (3 quarts or 13x9 inch) baking dish.
Heat a large skillet without a non-stick coating (meaning either cast iron or stainless steel) over medium-high heat. Once drops of water sizzle upon contact, add olive oil. When oil starts to smoke slightly, add chicken to skillet. Cook until chicken is a deep golden-brown in color. Remove chicken from skillet and add to the baking dish with vegetables and soup.
Drain excess grease from skillet but do not clean. Add chicken stock to skillet and set over high heat until stock bubbles for 1-2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low and start scraping the dish with a wooden spoon (a process known as deglazing the pan). When all the bits of food stuck to the bottom of the pan have been brought up, let the sauce simmer for 3-4 minutes until thickened. Add the sauce to the baking dish.
When noodles are done cooking, put in a strainer and rinse in hot water. Once rinsed, drain the noodles and add to the baking dish. Add garlic, black pepper and parsley to the baking dish. Mix all ingredients in the baking dish until evenly covered. Place baking dish in the preheated 400°F oven and bake for 30 minutes.
While dish is baking, add breadcrumbs to a small bowl with the melted butter and stir until mixed. When the dish has cooked for 30 minutes, remove from oven and sprinkle with the bread crumb/butter mixture. Bake for an additional five minutes or until the bread crumb mixture is golden brown. Remove baking dish from oven and serve immediately.

Notes:

Browning the chicken in a skillet without a nonstick surface enables you to build a pan sauce from the bits of chicken that are still stuck to the skillet. I'm of the opinion that the pan sauce significantly contributes to the quality of the final product. Still, it's worth noting that the original recipe we used merely called for "cooked, cubed chicken." I suspect that about any method could be used to cook the chicken (e.g., bake, broil, boil, microwave, etc.) and the final product would still be entirely tasty.