Science For Breakfast

This morning cried out for pancakes and bacon.  It happens.  The kids love to help cook and bake so I had Gabe pull up a chair and help put all the ingredients together.  We talked about what was going in the bowl, counted cups and teaspoons, and Gabe gave a sniff test to everything added. He declared that flour smells "dewishous." When the griddle was hot enough I poured on the batter, we watched the bubbles and talked about irreversible change.  Not your typical breakfast conversation, I know.  We can thank Sid the Science Kid for this one.  They watched the "perfect pancake" episode while I finished up cooking and plating. They ate applesauce with their pancakes though we didn't make our own like they do in the show.  That's for next time.

Old Fashion Pancakes

3/4 cup (each) white and whole wheat flour
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
1 1/3 cup milk
1 egg
3 Tbsp applesauce
1 Tbsp veg oil
1/2 tsp vanilla

Whisk dry ingredients together then add wet, whisking until well combined.  Pour 1/4 cup on griddle set at med-low heat, cooking until edges set and bubbles pop without refilling. Flip and cook another 45 seconds - 1 minute until browned.  Yields approx 12 pancakes.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Enjoying our sweet treats.  :)

I also wanted to share how to make these awesome pretzel shamrocks. I found the idea in Family Fun magazine... I think. Not a lot of effort, and a super fun snack.

Lay out three yogurt (or white chocolate) covered pretzels and arrange them in the shamrock shape. Break off a piece of another pretzel and place for the stem. Melt some vanilla candy wafers according to package instructions.  Pour melted candy into a piping bag with a small round tip and squeeze onto center joints of the pretzels, filling in all the gaps and making sure everything's stuck together.  Let dry.

Tint some decorator icing green and pipe a line around the edges of the pretzels and down the stem to make the shamrock. Press down into a bowl filled with coarse green sugar.  Allow the icing to set.

Voila!  So easy and the kids love them. 

Chicken Pot Pie

This is actually an adaptation of my Chicken Pasty recipe; simple and yet so effective.  In a crockpot combine:
 2 cups cubed red potatoes
1 med. sweet onion, chopped
3 med. carrots, chopped
2 tsp mushroom base mixed into 2 cups hot water
1 packet chicken gravy mix
roughly 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken, cut in 1 inch cubes
oregano, basil, garlic salt, and pepper to taste
Cook on high for 2.5 hours.

While that is cooking go ahead and make the pie dough.

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 cup  unsalted butter
6 Tbsp ice water

In a medium bowl wisk together flour, salt, and sugar.  Cut in butter until it resembles cornmeal (small, pea-sized bits.)  Using a wooden spoon, stir in the ice water, 2 Tbsp at a time, until the dough starts pulling together.  You just want it to be able to squish together and stay together, not crumble apart.  Add more water if needed.  DO NOT OVERKNEAD!  I push and pat the dough just enough to make the whole thing come together and form it into a ball. (You want to leave those big pats of butter right where they are... they are what will make your cust flaky and wonderful. :)  Wrap it in saran wrap and stick it in the fridge for at least an hour. 

Look at me.  Now to the crock pot... now back to me.  It's the filling, it's done and it's wonderful.  Drain the vegetables, reserving the cooking liquid, and stir in some frozen peas.  Transfer liquid to a small sauce pan and stir in 4 oz sour cream and 2 tsp worcester sauce.  Wisk in 2-3 tsp cornstarch (mixed into ~1 tsp cold water) to help it thicken over med-low heat. This is the filling your filling could taste like.

While your sauce thickens, roll out your pie dough into 2 10 inch circles.  (It may need to sit at room temp for a few minutes to become more pliable.)  Place one crust in a greased and floured deep dish pie pan. Add enough filling to cover the bottom of the pie and pour some gravy over top.  Repeat layers, finishing with all remaining gravy poured on top.  Place on the second pie crust, trim and crimp edges. Cut slits in the center.  Bake at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes.  (You may need to cover the edges of the crust with tin foil to prevent burning, just remove them 10 minutes prior to the end of bake time.)
 
**This recipe recommeded by Gabe.  "Mmahm mahm.  Dis GOOD."
***Check out lots of other great food ideas at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam's Tasty Tuesday Blog Carnival!

Super Chocolate Muffins

This has become our family's favorite treat. Not only is it delicious but it's healthy and made with natural ingredients.

1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup natural sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

Mix these well in a large bowl. In a separate bowl combine

1 egg
1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp rice milk
1/2 cup spiced applesauce
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Whisk well. Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix till fully wet (add more milk if too dry.) Add in

1 large zucchini, shredded

and stir. Lastly, add

1/4 cup chocolate and peanut butter chips

stir. Fill 14 muffin cups that have been sprayed with cooking spray to 3/4 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

They're spongy, chocolate-y goodness and, at around 130 calories and 3 grams of fat each, not bad for my diet. Sweet!

Sweet Potato Burritos

Seriously, these are wonderful. I was unsure of what to expect when tasting one of these but it's really fantastic. Wonderful flavor, slightly sweet and very filling these will become a regular at our house. (Thanks to Mellanie for providing a base recipe!)

One large sweet potato, peeled and shredded
half an onion, chopped fine
1.5 tsp garlic, chopped fine
3-4 ounces cooked, shredded (or chopped) chicken breast
1/3 cup water
cumin
oregano
salt
pepper
ground chipolte chili pepper
2/3 can drained, rinsed kidney beans
2/3 cup sweet yellow corn

Combine onion and garlic in a large sauce pan with some olive oil and saute 2-3 minutes. Add chicken and seasonings (all to taste, more cumin than anything) and one Tbsp of water, simmer one minute. Add sweet potato and remaining water, cover and cook until potato is soft. Stir in kidney beans and corn.
Serve in whole wheat tortilla topped with sour cream, salsa or guacamole.
Delicious!!

Homemade Vanilla Extract

If you haven't noticed, I like to bake. A lot. Much of what I make calls for vanilla extract so you can imagine that I go through a bottle pretty quickly. It's not cheap either, with a 2 oz bottle of Madagascar vanilla costing between $3 and $6. I decided to make my own so I could save some money and have a large supply on hand.

4 Madagascar bourbon vanilla beans
1 1/2 cups vodka
1/2 cup dark rum
tall glass bottle or large canning jar with lid

Cut each vanilla bean lengthwise to within one inch of the end (to help it stay together.) Push each bean into your jar or bottle and pour the liquor on top. You want the beans to be fully submerged so I used a tall, narrow bottle. Shake a few times then place in a cool, dark place. Shake every day or so for 6-8 weeks.

Now, I just have to be patient.
I hate wait. (*bonus points if you know what that's from*)

Chicken and Vegetable Soup

Our dinner tonight is a new favorite; soups are one of the best things about cooler weather.

1.5 - 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 medium carrots, finely chopped
1 medium potato, peeled and diced
1/4 cup tomato sauce
30 oz chicken broth
1 can cream style corn
2 medium zucchini, quartered and sliced
Thyme and Oregano to taste
Salt and Pepper to taste
Shredded Parmesan

In a crockpot combine onion, carrots, potatoes, tomato sauce and chicken broth. Season lightly with thyme and oregano. Add chicken and cook 3.5 hours on high.
Remove chicken, cut into bite sized chunks and add back to soup along with the corn and zucchini. Season with salt and pepper and cook an additional 15-20 minutes.

Serve with Parmesan sprinkled on top.

Reeces Krispie Treats

I wanted to bake something yesterday for Steve's birthday, but since the kids all had fevers (and Gabe was vomiting and not eating much) extra time was nil. I decided to throw together some rice krispie treats, at least he would have something. When I was getting out the marshmallows I noticed we had a bag of Reeces peanut butter chips. I figured those would perk them up (not to mention he loves peanut butter.) But that got me thinking of how else I could add to them. I settled on something chocolate, the perfect complement. They did not disappoint. They were fast, easy and delicious.

6 cups krispie cereal
3 Tbsp butter
1 bag (or 10 oz) mini marshmallows
8 oz Reeces peanut butter chips
2 Tbsp Devils Food pudding mix

Melt butter in saucepan over med-low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until melted. Remove from heat and stir in pudding mix.
Pour peanut butter chips and Krispies into a large bowl. Pour on marshmallow mixture and quickly stir to coat all cereal. Press mixture into a greased 9x13x2 pan and let cool.

Best Banana Muffins

These muffins are flavorful, filling and actually pretty good for you. A wonderful combination made all the better by the fact that they're easy to eat and transport. Plus, the kids love them.

makes 12 regular sized muffins

3/4 cup white flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon

3 mashed bananas
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup applesauce

Combine first 6 ingredients in medium size bowl. Mix remaining ingredients in separate bowl. Stir wet intro dry until just moistened. Spoon into greased muffin pan or liners and bake at 375 degrees for 18-20 minutes.

Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments

My house has smelled wonderfully fall-like for the last two days. I've finally made cinnamon ornaments, something I've been wanting to do for years but just never got around to. They're terrifically easy, and don't make as much of a mess as I had expected. Here's my recipe:

1 1/8 cup cinnamon
1 Tbsp ground cloves
2 tsp allspice
3/4 cup applesauce
2 Tbsp tacky glue

Mix all ingredients until well combined, the mixture should stay together but not be sticky. Work the dough in your hands for a few minutes. (It will turn your hands brown, but it washes off simply with soap and water... and maybe a little scratching.) Roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness and use your cookie cutters (I got 13 large.) Use a straw to poke holes for ribbons (be sure to poke two per ornament if you want it to face you when hanging.) Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake at 200 degrees for 2.5 hours, flipping twice to prevent the edges from curling. Use white fabric paint to decorate (it looks like icing.) Voila! Simple, easy, ornaments that will smell good for years.

I've been throwing around the idea of making a gingerbread house from the dough so that I'll always have one to put out, even if I can't get around to making the edible ones. This time though, I used letter cookie cutters to stamp out "Welcome" and I plan to string it from the wreath I'm making for the front door. I also cut out the letters for the first names of everyone in our family to decorate and hang on our tree this Christmas.

Easy Homemade Caramel

We had had two cans of sweetened condensed milk sitting in our pantry without a purpose for far too long. Yesterday afternoon we pulled out a stock pot and set about making our own caramel. It's really very easy: remove the labels from the cans, keep the cans fully submerged with roughly 2 inches of water over the tops (be sure to maintain this depth to prevent the cans from exploding) and maintain a low boil for 4 hours. Let the cans cool completely in the fridge then pop them open and enjoy the creamy result. Steve put some in his coffee and I made a small batch of caramel popcorn. That hasn't made a dent in our supply though, we're brainstorming ways to use the rest. Right now caramel apples and dunked chocolate pretzel rods are topping our list. Mmmmm.

A New Favorite

Last night we made Parmesan-ranch crusted chicken. We've made shake-and-bake before and tried a few other variations on breaded, baked chicken but this was by far the best we've made. There was plenty of the mixture left after preparing the chicken so I chopped a zucchini into circles and breaded them, too. I should have cut up two, even the kids scarfed them down.

For roughly 1 lb of chicken breasts, in a medium bowl mix the following:
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup Parmesan
4 tsp dry ranch mix

Break and beat an egg in a separate bowl. Dip breasts into egg then transfer to crumb mixture and coat thoroughly. Place on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees 20-30 minutes.
To make the zucchini, cut the circles about 1/4 inch thick and follow the same procedure. Bake for around 12 minutes, flipping once.

Kickin' Chicken Gravy

Thursday night I made Chicken Pasties using a recipe I linked to a while back. I used ground chicken, onion, white potatoes, carrots and peas in our pasties and an easy homemade pie dough. The veggies and meat were well seasoned and the crust was very flaky and buttery, but what really made this dish sing was the gravy. In fact, it's so good that we'll continue to make it for other dishes; it would be fabulous poured over baked chicken and rice.

Chicken Gravy

1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup butter
2 tsp chicken base (or bouillon) dissolved in 2 cups water
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp italian seasoning (we used pizza & pasta magic which has parmesan cheese, garlic, onion, crushed red pepper, thyme, basil, and oregano.)

Make a roux in a deep saucepan with the butter and flour. Whisk in chicken base and cook at a low boil until thickened. Stir in soy sauce and seasoning.

Freshly Baked Goodness

I've been on a baking kick for the last couple of weeks. When I'm stressed, getting in the kitchen and working with my hands can be very soothing. So can the smells of freshly-baked-goodness wafting through the air after all the effort.

This past week we've had zucchini bread and applesauce breads made with my chunky spiced applesauce. (The batch I made for last Christmas turned out a little strong so it works perfectly to add texture and spice to these sweet breads.) I made some modifications to these recipes, omitting oil and nuts and changing spice amounts but they're great recipes to start with.

I've also tried two new chocolate chip cookie recipes, one fairly straight forward and one using vanilla pudding mix. Both are excellent but I'm working on merging them to get the perfect flavor of one with the structure of the other.

For the baptism party I made a wonderful bundt called Too Much Chocolate Cake. Instead of topping it with a glaze or frosting I opted for cool whip (Kool Wheep!) and fresh strawberries and it was a perfect compliment.

Last Thursday I made a batch of pull apart dinner rolls but they did not turn out as well as I would have hoped. I like my rolls to be light and buttery but these were quite dense and the flavor wasn't quite right. (Though it could also have been in my conversions, I cut the recipe by a 1/3 but some ingredients aren't easily converted, like the 2 eggs. uhh....)

Yesterday was my first attempt at soft pretzels. The dough came together easily and I decided to try a few different ideas with it. I believe the total weight of dough was just over 2 lbs and with that I made 3 hoagie rolls, 6 pretzels and 3 wrapped hot dogs. They cooked up easily and tasted great, though not anything I would normally consider as a pretzel. We also didn't have kosher salt to top them with so they were just brushed with melted butter. Next time I will be trying a recipe from my Bakers Dozen cookbook.

It's been busy in the kitchen lately, but baking is something I really enjoy. It allows me to channel some of my need to be creative and productive and also give something useful and enjoyable to my family. Next on my list are pizza bread, bagels and cinnamon buns.

Blueberry Pancakes

1 1/2 cups flour
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp milk
1 egg
3 Tbsp melted butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
fresh blueberries

Sift together dry ingredients then stir in wet. Pour batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto hot griddle and drop 4 or 5 blueberries on top. Brown on both sides. Serve with homemade syrup.

1/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 tsp maple flavoring
1/2 tsp vanilla

Bring first 4 ingredients to low boil in saucepan, reduce heat and continue to simmer for aprox. 7 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat, add flavorings and let stand 10 minutes to thicken.

Serious goodness.

Today's brunch

Bacon and Cheese Breakfast Bread.
It's in the rising process right now, but every indication is that this bread will be delicious. For the meat and dairy eaters of the house, that is. Though I must say, any bread that requires aprox. 3.5 hours to make isn't going to be a breakfast staple in this house, hence our eating brunch today instead.

Small Successes

1. I made a trip to In His Name and picked up some items to start putting together a mass kit for the kids. I got them each a rosary with small plastic beads on a rope, so no more breaking! I also picked up 12 holy cards, laminated them, punched a small hole in the top corner of each and put them on 2 key rings for the kids to look through during Mass. Each ring has a Sacred Heart of Jesus, Mary and 2 male and 2 female saints. I picked up St. Dominic, St. George, St. Michael the Archangel, St. Nicholas, St. Anne, St. Mary Magdalene, St. Therese, and St. Catherine Laboure.



2. Mondays dinner was terrific, so I'm sharing.
Crockpot Chicken Merlot w/ Mushrooms
1 lb chicken breasts, cut in large chunks
12 oz fresh, sliced mushrooms
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
3/4 cup chicken broth
6 oz tomato paste
1/4 cup Merlot
2 Tbsp quick-cooking tapioca
2 tsp basil
2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
Combine veggies, garlic and chicken in crockpot. In separate bowl whisk together remaining ingredients then pour over mixture. Cook on HIGH for 4 hours (or low for 8.) Serve over pasta.

3. The kids have started putting their crayons to paper instead of in their mouths! I got a big pad of white paper and set them up with a few crayons each and they went to town. They really enjoy when I draw a few pictures for them of their favorite things like a school bus, balloons, or a kitty cat. Addie was so into it the first day that, apart from a break to get dressed and brush teeth, she colored straight from breakfast to lunch.

Baking Bread

I am by no means an expert baker, but have been working at this recipe for several months now and have had consistently tasty results. Here is a tutorial for making plain white sandwich bread. This recipe makes enough dough for 2 loaves, but you could also make dinner rolls or hamburger buns. This time, I made one loaf and 10 dinner rolls.

In the bowl of a stand mixer combine 1 Tbsp active dry yeast and 2 Tbsp sugar. To this, add 1 3/4 cup rice milk (you can use regular, I'm just a non dairy gal) that has been heated to between 100 and 110 degrees. (Too cool and the yeast wont activate. Too hot and you'll kill it.)

Whisk until yeast is dissolved, then add just over 3 Tbsp of vegetable oil, whisk again. Let this sit for 5 minutes so the yeast has time to activate. It should look bubbly and frothy.

While the yeast is activating, weigh out 1 lb 8 oz of bread flour and measure 2 1/4 tsp of sea salt. After the yeast has activated, add around 1 cup of flour and the salt and turn mixer (fitted with the paddle attachment) to the lowest speed to incorporate. Then slowly add remaining flour, or as much as it takes to clean the side of the bowl. (I usually will have to add more, depending on humidity, up to 1/3 cup.) Pay attention to how much dough is sticking to the sides and underneath the paddle.
Remove the paddle and switch to the dough hook. Start mixer back on lowest speed and add another sprinkling of flour if needed. (It might not seem like much, but you can see the difference between how clean the bowl is with the paddle and how clean it is with the dough hook. You want a nice shiny bowl with nothing sticking to the sides.) Turn mixer up to medium speed and knead for 5 minutes.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and form into a ball. The easiest way to do this is to pull the sides together toward the back. Rotate, and repeat, so you're stretching the dough around to one point (the bottom of the ball.) The skin should be smooth and elastic with no tears. Pinch the dough together on the bottom to seal and gently shape. Transfer to a large, generously oiled bowl and cover tightly with saran wrap then a tea towel. Place in the oven (which is off) along with a shallow dish of steaming hot water. Allow to rise for one hour.
After the dough has doubled in size, punch down and remove from bowl. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
Gently work in your hands to remove excess air bubbles and form into a rough ball shape. Weigh the dough, then cut into 2 equal portions. Take one portion and repeat process of forming a ball to get the nice, tight smooth skin on top. Put this side of the ball down on your work surface. Using your fingers, gently press into a rectangle, about the length and width of a 9x5 bread pan. Working lengthwise, tightly roll the dough and pinch the seam to close. Turn ends under and pinch to close. Place in bread pan sprayed with cooking oil. Cover with a damp tea towel and place in your microwave with a cup of steaming water. Let rise 45 minutes.
Take second portion and divide into 2 oz portions (I ended up with 10.) Gently form each portion into the same ball as before, being sure to tightly pinch the bottom to close. Place ball on unfloured surface, cup your hands over top and roll until skin is tight. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, enclose in a plastic bag and let rise for 15 minutes.
Bake rolls at 375 degrees for around 15 minutes or until golden brown. Be sure you still have steaming water in your oven, they will continue to rise while baking.

After removing your rolls increase oven temp to 400 degrees. Put bread in oven (check that steaming water again!) and bake for 20-30 minutes or until browned. (Mine is usually done in just over 20.) Remove bread from pan asap and let cool on cooling rack. (To check doneness, tap on the bottom of the loaf, it should sound hollow.) Allow to rest at least 5 minutes before cutting.
And that's it! Hot, fresh and delicious. (I know there are are several steps, but each step in itself is very easy. I usually am able to make this while the kids are up and running around without a problem.) Let the bread cool completely then wrap in saran wrap, or better yet, stick in an old grocery store bread bag.

Progress in planning

For the first two weeks I was meal planning, I left only one or two days for leftovers and picked a few meals that turned out to be too much trouble to prepare when I was running low on time or patience. By the end of these weeks I had more leftovers than I knew what to do with and was feeling pretty discouraged about meal planning in general. But I realized that I was getting caught up in the idea; I really liked the look of the plans I had seen, each day assigned it's own menu. I'm sure for some having a set daily plan works wonderfully, but with the unpredictable hours my husband can work along with taking care of the twins the last thing I need is something else to worry about getting done that day. "I've got to be sure I get this started by 4! No matter that the kids are cranky from not napping, the toilet's overflowing, and my back is aching. Got to stick to the plan!" That's exactly what I don't need.

So, instead of assigning a meal for specific days I pick out 5 recipes to use in the coming week, but still plan on 3 days for left overs, going to our restaurant or being at friends and family for meals. I put these recipes (on index cards or printouts) in my home management binder and decide which I'm making each night based on how the day is going. If it's been a long, hard day well then leftover night is just the ticket. If the morning is going well and we don't have errands to run or places to be I reach for a crock pot recipe. Dinners that are made mostly on the stove top I keep for when Steve will be home to help with the kids.

I've gathered around 30 recipes that I keep filed in the front of my binder. Some of them are made primarily with pantry items (beans, tomatoes, rice, etc) and other items I normally keep in the kitchen. Others share similar perishable ingredients such as potatoes, carrots, and onions, which is helpful to be sure I use up bulk purchases. None of them are very difficult to make, but all of them are filling and tasty. It's been enjoyable trying out new recipes and getting out of our usual routine. This recipe is my new favorite, offering up tons of flavor with little prep required.

BBQ Chicken over baked potaotes
In crock pot combine the following:
12 oz any BBQ sauce
1/2 cup vinegrette dressing (I like sun-dried tomato)
2 Tbsp worcester sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
Add 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast and cook 4 hours on high (or low for 8.)
After the chicken has cooked 3 hours pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Scrub potatoes clean, coat in olive oil and season with salt. Bake 45 minutes.
After chicken has cooked use a fork to "pull" or shred the chicken then serve over split potatoes. Top with sour cream or shredded cheese.

Meal Planning, or something close....

Dad, Jen and I took the kids to the Farmers Market this morning to pick out some fresh produce. It was a lovely morning, in the mid 70s with a slight breeze. We had gotten there early enough to sit and have a breakfast of egg biscuits and hash browns at a picnic table while the last farms put out their products. I ended up going home with some beautiful peaches, yellow squash and zucchini. Dad opted for some lesser known varieties to experiment with. I plan to use some of our peaches fresh for the kids and will probably make a crisp with the rest. The squash and zucchini will be divided between a chunky sauce (made with tomatoes from our garden) for pasta one night and sauteed with some leftover onion as a side dish another.
It's a start to a meal plan, anyway. I've got to go through and inventory our pantry and freezer to see what we have to work with, but I'd imagine we can create quite a variety of dishes with the staples we normally keep around. Today I used 7 frozen (black) bananas to make 2 loaves of banana bread for the kids. I'll freeze one loaf and the other will take us through breakfast and snacks for a week. (Did you know you can freeze bananas? In their peels, no less! No more will you have to toss black, mushy, wasted bananas! Defrost them in the microwave and they'll make super moist banana bread.)
To get a jump start on tonights dinner, I decided to go the crock pot route. I had some boneless, skinless chicken breast in the freezer so I looked around the kitchen to see what I could create. A simple chicken stroganoff seemed to be in order. I threw in the remains of a tub of sour cream (about 1 cup), a packet of mushroom gravy mix, a little flour and about a cup of water. Once those were mixed well, I tossed in the chopped chicken breast, and used up the last of our yukon gold potatoes, some baby carrots and half an onion. Its slowly simmering away now and in about 4 hours I'll add some peas and mix up a savory biscuit topping to cook for another hour. Dinner should be ready and waiting after the kids go down for the night.
We try to keep food items on hand that are often used to make many simple dishes. Besides pasta (spaghetti, rotini, and orzo), rice, potatoes, carrots, onions, and tomatoes are serious multi-taskers in this house. I just need to start getting in the habit of planning these dinners out ahead of time so at the end of the day I don't throw my hands up in the air and say, "Oh, forget it. I'm having a sandwich."