Country Casserole - A Family (Fattening) Favorite Redone

This casserole is one of my family's favorites.  I always have the ingredients in my kitchen.  When I looked up the points value, I was not pleased to say the least.  Since fat-free cheese is so expensive, and never on sale, I don't buy it.  I reduced the amount of cheese and french-fried onions in this recipe to lower the points, and my husband told me he couldn't even tell a difference.  I also doubled the recipe and froze half, because it's a great last minute dinner.

2 cups rotini, cooked and drained
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables, cooked and drained
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup french fried onions
2 cups shredded cooked chicken (I use two cans)
1 10.5 oz can of 98%FF cream of chicken soup, undiluted
1/2 c. skim milk
1 TSP black pepper
1/4 TSP garlic powder
1/2 TSP salt

Preheat oven to 350F.  Combine everything in a large bowl, reserving half of the cheese, and all the french-fried onions for the topping later.

Spoon into a 9x13-inch casserole dish.  Bake for 25 minutes.  Top with the remaining cheese and all the french-fried onions and bake about 5 minutes more.

Each serving (and they are SMALL servings) is about 1/8 of the casserole and is 4 points.  I haven't tried this, but using whole-wheat pasta, broccoli  ( instead of the mixed veggies, because broccoli is 0 points), and fat-free cheese, may take the points value down further.

This picture shows two servings of casserole, a mixed green salad with olive oil vinaigrette dressing, and it was a total of 10 points.