Weekly Wrap-Up

Monday we had dance class, first day of carpooling with a new kid, Open House and Parent Night at the new school (plus volunteering for the event feeding the kids pizza, water and homemade cookies and then cleaning up) so we just had cheese pizza with the other families. It was a late night for us and we didn't get home until 7:15.

Tuesday we had chicken divan with broccoli and cauliflower instead of just broccoli. There are a million and one recipes for chicken divan out there, it is a classic southern dish. In fact I can't imagine a potluck or family reunion without a warm casserole dish topped with breadcrumbs or even potato chips and containing this strangely addictive dish. Most recipes for chicken divan call for a can of cream of chicken or broccoli cheese soup, I used some leftover chicken gravy I had made over the weekend,. Most recipes also call for a certain amount of cream and cheese as well, so I used some leftover alfredo sauce. I know, I KNOW, right? But here's the thing. I am super frugal by nature and super broke most of the time by circumstances so I often make these kind of strange substitutions or even plan meals around what ever bits and bobs of food I have leftover in the refrigerator. In any case the dish came out just fine, very tasty, and I loved the addition of cauliflower to the usual broccoli in the casserole, or as my kids call it, broccoli and white broccoli.

Wednesday we had red beans and rice with smoked sausage, this was another frugal feast. I found both buy one get one boxes of red beans and rice and buy one get one smoked sausage this week, I knew instantly it would make a very nice dinner for a busy night. The kids and I don't get home from gymnastics until 6:30 on Wednesdays so this was ideal. My husband got it ready for us and we were able to wash up and eat as soon as we came in the door.

Thursday we just made some simple vegetarian pasta for dinner. I chopped up some tomatoes, onions and garlic and sauteed them in olive oil and then threw in some 4 Cheese tomato sauce. I made some multi-colored veggie pasta and tossed the noodles with the sauce and some freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Friday my husband brought home rotisserie chicken and I made homemade mashed potatoes steamed mixed vegetables. I found an organic frozen mix with broccoli, cauliflower, carrot and squash in it and it's great simply steamed and tossed with butter or maybe even some grated parmesan cheese. The leftover chicken served to make us a nice lunch of chicken salad today and I boiled the carcass with some ends of carrots and onion and a bay leaf to make some lovely broth which I freeze and then use whenever I need chicken stock. Which is like all the time, I use stock to cook vegetables, be a base for soups, make gravy, flavored mashed potatoes, cook rice, or a host of other things.

I tried to get a jump on this week's cooking by making some vegetarian chili for Monday night, today. I think chili tastes better the second day and so it will have all night and all day tomorrow to get flavorful. Tomorrow I will bake some fresh cornbread to go with the very veggie chili; it has tomatoes, green peppers, onion, garlic carrot and some cooked from scratch red beans that I made in the pressure cooker. I flavored it all with 2 TB of chili powder, salt, pepper and 1 TB of BBQ rub. I am making some black beans and rice plus a cuban picadillo for dinner tonight and I have some plans for a roasted whole chicken later in the week.

Meatless Monday: As meatless as you wanna be

Tonight we all had various holiday meal leftovers, some colorful boiled eggs, macaroni and cheese, green bean casserole, potato casserole and some honey baked ham slices and honey baked turkey breast. So some of us ate vegetarian and some of us had meat, but basically it was a fight to clean out our very, very full refrigerator.

I also had to put the leftover Easter candy on a very high shelf. Because I will eat it all. Seriously. I have to put it out of reach of myself. I had Cadbury Creme Eggs for breakfast. Oh, chocolate, my lover, my enemy.

Here is my Aunt Kathy's wonderful, wonderful potato casserole recipe. There are a jillion variations on this one, when I make the casserole for breakfast I add buttered corn flakes on the top, otherwise I leave it just cheesy on top.

Potato Casserole

(1) 2-pound bag frozen hash browns or frozen potatoes O’Brien
½ cup melted butter or margarine (1 stick)
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper
½ cup chopped onion (omit if using potatoes O’Brien)
1 Can Cream of Chicken Soup (cream of anything works really)
1 Pint Sour Cream (have also used Greek yogurt here)
2 Cups Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese (Or save 1 cup cheese for top.)

Mix all ingredients (except potatoes). Add potatoes and mix well. Put into an ungreased oblong casserole. (I mix it all in the casserole pan actually.) Sprinkle top with 1 cup reserved cheese (if applicable)

Bake 350 F for 50-60 minutes.

Someone had a baby, I'll make a ham!

Actually, I am making a casserole, but it is such a Southern tradition, you know a friend or acquaintance or anybody in your circle, no matter how tangentially, new birth, loss of life, devastating injury, somebody, somewhere is making some food. In fact the nicest present I got after my first kid was born was that my great-grandmother took a 10 pound bag of potatoes and made 10 pounds worth of twice baked potatoes. Then she individually wrapped them and put them in my freezer. So while I was in the midst of the hazy, crazy days of baby *if* I remembered to eat all I had to do was pull one out and microwave it. Sometimes I added some frozen broccoli to it or some leftover chili, but basically I ate potatoes and nursed the baby and that was how I spent my first 3 months postpartum.

So tonight I was able to fulfill my Dinner Every Night commitment AND go out for wings with some friends because a colleague of my husband's had a baby last week! So veggie/chicken casserole was made and frozen for delivery. Hopefully when I drop the casserole off (with some homemade bread and a bag of salad greens) I will get a chance to see the new baby too! She looks glorious from all of the pictures. But then all babies are amazing little creatures.

I usually make a casserole in 9 x 13 pan, but if I am making for a new little family like this I make the same casserole in 2 disposable aluminum pans so that it can be more easily frozen and they don't have to defrost the whole thing all at once.

Chicken-Veggie Casserole

3 C of cooked rice (I usually make some brown rice in my pressure cooker)
2 C of assorted vegetables, cut up (mine were broccoli, onion, and carrots)
1 -2 cans of cream of something soup (or an equivalent amount of white sauce)
2 chicken breasts, well-seasoned, cooked and cubed
1 C of shredded cheese (swiss works well, as does 4 cheese Mexican blend)
breadcrumbs for the top (optional)

Mix all of the ingredients together, place in lightly greased pans, add bread crumbs to top; cover and freeze. Write in Sharpie marker the heating directions right on the aluminum foil lid. "Heat in oven at 350 degrees 1 hour or until brown and bubbly around the edges, then remove foil and allow to brown under broiler for just a few minutes."

If you season the chicken well, and cook it until JUST done and make the rice in veggie or chicken broth it helps the casserole come out much tastier. If you are making this for a family of vegetarians skip the chicken, use only veggie broth in the rice and increase the amount of vegetables and cheese.

The skinny on casseroles

Here's the thing, in the depths of winter (and winter in NC is pretty depthy to me) I want comfort food. Casseroles, stews, soups, roasts, baked goods, basically anything that warms the soul and the house makes me happy. Casseroles are not the most elegant or sophisticated of dishes but they are tasty and filling and just the very definition of home-cooking. I mean when is the last time you saw any type of casserole on a restaurant menu?

Today's casserole takes the very last bits of the New Year's day feast and transforms them into a bubbly, cheesey delicious main dish. Serve with a side of steamed veggies or salad depending on your climate and enjoy.

Ham and Rice Casserole

Chopped ham
3 cups of cooked white rice (can be leftovers from NY dinner)
1 cup (or more) of shredded cheese (I like a 4 cheese blend)
1 can of cream of something soup (or make a white sauce) (Or more than one can if you like a moister casserole.)
Panko, cracker or bread crumbs for the top
Melted butter

Mix cooked rice and chopped ham, cheese, and soup and place in a buttered 9 x 13 pan (or smaller if you aren't cooking for a crowd. You can cut this recipe in half and make it in an 8 x8 pan.) Cover with bread crumbs of choice and pour some melted butter over the top. Bake at 350 degrees (170 C?) covered with aluminum foil for 30 minutes. Take off foil and brown for 5 minutes. Serve immediately.

If you do not eat ham or meat simply replace the ham with broccoli florets or chopped spears and follow the recipe as indicated. You can also make this with cooked brown rice and it is even better. I can't tell you how many times I have intended to make my MIL's famous broccoli and chicken casserole and FORGOTTEN TO PUT IN THE CHICKEN. This has happened so often as a matter of fact that it is known in my house as "Chicken Surprise-- Surprise! There's no chicken in it!"

I will serve these tonight with a side of steamed broccoli and cauliflower which I am fortunate that my kids love. My sister-in-law's kids won't eat them plain, but they do like them with cheese sauce. Another friend's kids won't eat them cooked but will eat them raw with ranch dressing. My sister's kids won't eat them AT ALL but clamor for more of my Mom's spaghetti sauce which is packed with (you guessed it) broccoli, carrots, onion, and celery. My Mom was the Sneaky Chef way back in the 70's.

**UPDATE** The casserole dish I was using was SO BIG that I added the frozen vegetables right into the casserole. I did take the extra step of cutting them up a bit into smaller, uniform pieces and they cooked beautifully right in one dish. Even the strenuous anti-vegetable crowd at the table couldn't resist them. Score!

Hope your dinner is really good tonight and that you have one of those good parenting days that don't make you fantasize about a long restful stay at the local hospital!

Things to Top Casseroles With

Sometimes you're supposed to top a casserole with toasted bread crumbs, and you don't have any bread to toast and then to um, crumb..le? Anyhow a list of alternative crunchy toppings.

*panko breadcrumbs

*crumbled saltines

*crumbled ritz

*corn flakes

*cornbread crumbles

*smashed croutons

Or, you know, always keep some bread in the freezer!