Wednesday, December 10, 2008

I have to share these, because I love them:

I find that I often have a bit of chicken left after dinner and really the left over chicken breast never tastes as good the next day. It gets a little dry and forlorn you know? So I decided that I needed a chicken casserole recipe that I could make without planning for. That means only ingredients that I have in my house on a regular basis. I found this recipe online (I forget where) and I love it. Now I try to plan for chicken leftovers!

Easy Chicken Casserole (is what I call it)

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 cups soft bread cubes (2 to 3 slices) (something else to do with your bread heels)
  • 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
  • 2 tablespoons butter, melted
  • 1 cup cooked vegetables (peas, green beans, mixed, etc.) (we like it with peas!)
  • 2 tablespoons chopped onion
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 1/2 cups milk
  • 1 1/2 cups cooked cubed chicken
  • 1 large tomato, sliced (I have left the tomato out and used all sorts of canned tomatoes)

PREPARATION:

Combine bread cubes with melted butter and cheese; arrange half of mixture in a buttered 1 1/2-quart casserole. Spread vegetables over the bread mixture.

Sauté chopped onion in remaining 3 tablespoons butter until tender.

Blend in flour and seasonings; cook, stirring, until flour is blended into butter. Gradually add milk, stirring and cooking until thickened and bubbling. Stir in cooked cubed chicken. Pour chicken in sauce over the vegetables in casserole; arrange tomatoes slices over sauce then top with remaining bread mixture. Bake at 325° for 25 to 30 minutes, until hot and bubbly and lightly browned.


Next: I thought, when I got married, that hamburgers were just ground beef formed into patties. My husband informed me that that was NOT the case. As a surprise for him one day I decided to find a RECIPE for hamburgers and I loved this one* (You might want to check out the site it came from. This guy KNOWS his burgers!)

BASIC BURGER

1lb/500g ground beef
1 half onion grated or finely chopped
½ tsp pinches ground coriander
½ tsp pinches paprika powder
a little pepper, fresh ground is better
a little salt
1 hand fresh bread crumbs
1 egg lightly beaten
1 quarter beef stock block dissolved in a quarter cup water

*I have never been completely pleased with a restaurant burger since I started making these, I just thought I would warn you because that is a little sad.

Getting Ready for Baby Jesus


Friday, November 21, 2008

This one is for you Liz!


Chicken thighs, after baking for over 4 hours. Oops.

Please Excuse Me

I have not written a blog post in over a month, which coming so soon after I began this endeavour, bodes ill for the future of my blog. However, I have THOUGHT about blogging. In fact I have several posts all planned out. I just haven't been quite organized enough to gather all the things together that I would need to write said posts. Things like my camera, my computer and Internet access have been missing lately. What? Why? How? could anything so horrible happen to a dedicated blogger like me?

Well actually, it hasn't been horrible at all. All of the upheaval has been due to the fact that we found a new home. We packed up our sweet little cottage

(This picture didn't come out exactly as I had hoped. It was a lovely fall sunset...)

and joined the big people! I thought this would be relatively little trouble. We've only been married just over a year. I was used to moving all my stuff around the country on a regular basis for school. I knew that we had somewhat more stuff but surely not THAT much more stuff. While I am still sure that our move was very little trouble relative to many people out there, it was WAY more trouble than I imagined it to be.

However, with tons of help from friends and family, we are now here, and very nearly moved in. I have found my computer and my camera, and even obtained Internet access. So now, I would like to show you my new home! Just a couple pictures for now.

First is My kitchen, isn't it cute and cosy in a retro sort of way??

Notice the gas stove?? Isn't it amazing?? I love it! The burner flames are huge and easily adjustable and you can get them really really low without it going out. The broiler is all spiffy clean like I've never seen a broiler before and it slides out with such well oiled ease: it makes my heart glad.


This HUGE, sparkly, white, double-sided porcelain sink. This is truly one of the best parts of my new home.




The bright, sunny living room. It is a tad messy, but I like these pictures anyway.


And here is just a hint of what I've been working on...I'll tell you all about THAT later.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Free Books and a little Intellectual Homework

All on your schedule!

I have been reviewing books for the Catholic Company's Book Reviewer program for a couple of months now. My second review comes out tomorrow on The Contrarian's Review. They are looking for more people who would be interested in the project, so head on over and check it out!

I'm not the only one...

Who has questions and advice about diapers. See Danielle Bean's Coffee Talk Tuesday