Tim was working the evening shift, so I was home alone with the kids. Those kind of nights have been interesting - me, who is 29 weeks pregnant and STILL struggling with "morning" sickness, a 3 1/2 year old and a 21 month old - I should video me trying to do anything in the kitchen with two kiddos on my heels, hanging on my legs, and crying to be held because they haven't seen me all day (yes, I'm one of those mothers who works full-time...don't judge me!).
A quick inspection of the fridge revealed there were several things I needed to use ASAP before they went bad. No sense in throwing good food away!
- 1 1/2 c. shredded chicken (made a week earlier in the crock pot with onions and seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic powder - yum - what an easy way to make chicken that falls apart)
- 1 c. diced green peppers from a previous pizza-making night
- 1/2 c. sliced mushrooms (I actually decided against using these because I'm not sure how long mushrooms are supposed to last. So, the garbage disposal got them.)
- 1 lb. of gnarly looking carrots that Titus got from the farmer's market
- 1/2 a bag of frozen peas (who knows how long we've had these - they didn't smell like the freezer, so I used them!)
- Sour cream expiring at the end of the month
- Peeled, washed, and diced 6 medium potatoes, then put them in a pot of water to boil.
- Melted a 1/2 stick of butter in a small stock pot.
- While the butter was melting, I peeled, washed, and chopped the carrots, then added them to the pot of butter to saute and soften.
- I got tired of waiting for the potato water to boil, so after a few minutes, I drained them and added them to the carrots, including a little water from the pot. I didn't want them to cook fully, just didn't want them to be crunchy.
- After about 10 minutes of cooking the carrots and potatoes, I added the green pepper. I thought I would sneak them in - I'm the only one in the house that likes them.
- I tasted the potatoes and carrots and liked where they were at, but I needed to add salt and pepper. Keep tasting your food as you're cooking it so you know how much seasoning to add.
- Added flour to the veggies and stirred until they were coated. This was the start of the sauce. I had a can of cream of chicken soup begging to be opened, but making your own sauce is soooo much better than the sodium-filled cans of goo. I had to stir this for a minute to make sure I cooked out as much of the flour taste as possible.
- Added milk and stirred, adding more milk until I got a good, creamy sauce. Looking back, I should have added more milk and made it creamier, because the end product was a tad on the dry side.
- Next I added the shredded chicken and frozen peas, then stirred until everything was combined.
- 1 1/2 c. pancake mix (I actually didn't measure - maybe it was closer to 2 cups?)
- 1/2 stick butter, melted
- 2 T. water
- 8 oz. sour cream
- 1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 t. garlic powder
- 1 t. dried parsley flakes
- 1/2 t. paprika
- salt & pepper to taste
I've totally skipped over the part about feeding the kids. The casserole wasn't taken out of the oven until at least 7:30, and there's no way the kids were going to wait that long for supper. When Titus saw the pancake mix, he stopped what he was doing and announced that he was ready for his supper. He even sat at his place at the table and waited. I quickly whipped up a batch of large silver dollar pancakes for him. He even helped me stir! The first three included sliced bananas, topped with low-sugar syrup. He was still hungry, so I made a second batch of three large silver dollar pancakes that included chocolate chips. A little white milk to wash it all down and he was one happy boy! Mia didn't want the small pancakes and asked for one big one with chocolate chips. She also requested chocolate milk to drink. There's no question in our minds that she's daddy's girl. :)
Here's what the casserole looked like (this is a picture of it re-heated for lunch today - notice the flower patterned paper bowl - so fancy!). This is definitely a supper I will make again, but I'm almost certain it won't come out the same. Next time, the filling will be creamier. The biscuits soaked up a lot of liquid, which made it dry. That's the fun about cooking - you can create whatever you want and not have to follow a recipe.
Let's switch topics to this morning's breakfast. Tim worked the early shift and I'm on the evening shift, so I was home with the kids this morning. I didn't want to give them the same breakfast options as always (eggs & toast, pancakes (we just had those last night), frozen waffles, oatmeal, cereal), so I dug through the cupboards looking for ideas. I didn't have a lot of time to make anything. I found a pouch of Betty Crocker muffin mix that you just add water to. In about 2 minutes, I had them mixed, poured, and in the oven. In 16-21 minutes, we would have hot muffins for breakfast. I took a quick shower, got dressed, got Mia dressed (Titus picks out his own clothes and dresses himself), and then took out the muffins so they could cool. We had to be in the van and on the road in 10 minutes.
When everyone was in the van and ready to go, we finally tried the muffins. Much to my dismay, when I peeled the muffin liner away, half the muffin came with it. We basically ate muffin tops for breakfast. They were delicious, but a disappointment.
This never happens when I make muffins from scratch. Come to think of it, I have enough bananas in the freezer to make a triple batch of banana muffins. I guess I know what I'm doing this weekend! Those are the perfect things to make in a huge batch, then freeze in packages of six. We take a bag out when needed and they thaw in less than 30 minutes.
I should blog about a disasterous cooking attempt, but I'll save that for another day. :)
