This could be good... or terrible

Sometimes I like to use a recipe as a guideline and then experiment off of it- who doesn't?! That's what cooking is all about right? Usually when I do this I warn Erik "this could be good, or terrible, I have no idea."
This week it was a recipe for a creamy chicken dish that was finished off with mushrooms. As stated before, mushrooms aren't my favorite, and I didn't have any, but I did have two small zucchini that needed to be cooked. The original recipe didn't put the mushrooms in the casserole dish for baking, but sauteed them separately and just put them on top at the end... where's the fun in that? The beauty of a casserole is to mix up a bunch of stuff, put it in the dish and bake it off! Dinner done! I do, however, wish I had sauteed the zucchini just a bit before adding it to the casserole to give it a bit of color and some caramelized edges- that will be for next time. (I also make notes on recipes when I change things and how to do it again.) The original recipe also called for poaching the chicken (boneless, skinless breasts) to cook it through before adding it to the casserole... not my style. Why not get that lovely browning from cooking it in a pan beforehand? It's also easy to add some seasoning to it when you do it that way, rather than just bland boiled chicken. I should mention, the original recipe was a "healthy" cookbook, which may explain the poaching (no added oil to a pan). After the chicken was mostly cooked, I added chopped onion and diced garlic to the pan to cook down and add flavor to the chicken. When the chicken was cooked through, I removed it from the pan to a cutting board and let it cool just enough to handle. Back in the pan I added some flour (to make a roux for thickening), then whisked in some white wine and milk, cooking until it thickened a bit. Then the recipe added Parmesan cheese (no objections here!), some thyme and salt and pepper. I cut the chicken into bite sized chunks and added it to the casserole dish. Before adding the cream sauce, there was one more intriguing ingredient- a can of artichoke hearts, roughly chopped. After the chicken, zucchini and artichokes were together in the dish I poured the sauce over and baked with a glass lid on at 350 until bubbly. I served it over some rice pilaf.
It was definitely not terrible ;) I loved the tanginess of the wine and artichoke mixing with the creamy, cheesy sauce. The zucchini still had some bite, almost crunch, to it, which I like- I hate mushy zucchini- and since the rest of the ingredients are rather soft, it was a necessary texture enhancer. There is something so satisfying about casseroles in the Winter. It's definitely one of my top five comfort foods. As long as it's not too warm outside to turn on the oven, I'm happy with a good casserole.