Food Matters

Portrait, peanut butter & jelly in pastel

Conversation with my 5 year-old;

Mom: "Would you like a whole sandwich, or half a sandwich for lunch?"

Amie: "a half, mom...two of them."

mom: "!!!"
-wonders to self if the math curriculum in the mail will cover halves and wholes...

Barb's wonderful chicken divan recipe ;
-rave reviews here!

Tonight I tried my hand at the recipe Barb shared on her blog, and I have to say that it changed our lives.

First, Husband liked it-and he didn't pour hot sauce over it, or curry, or anything like that...a really, really good sign. The kids liked it. It has broccoli in it, so I felt very sublime and responsible regarding my parental duties..and best of all, the croutons were to die for.
I thought about skipping the croutons, we like casseroles, but croutons not so much...I am so glad I went ahead and did them, they made the dish.

Second way this experience changed our lives , I never imagined trying to boil chicken for a recipe. Wow. Usually if a recipe calls for cooked chicken, I either - walk away, -slow cook it in a crock pot early in the day, -bake it, -cook it in a skillet (which is messy and always comes out dry) -used canned.
I am so thankful the information on how to boil the chicken was included in the post, I am probably the last mom in America who didn't know how to do that. (blush).

It took a little longer than I imagined, cooking the dish up...I kept thinking I was doing good and then I would remember a detail I forgot,

...the bread cubes! I'm supposed to do something more to them than letting them sit there drying out till ready! I'm supposed to cook them! In butter!
And then I was scurrying around trying to do that, and then I would remember

...oh! the mayonaise! that's supposed to go somewhere!
and so it went...

With all my scurrying, I did not manage to keep my kitchen clean and my pots washed as Barb lead by great example in her post.

I thought of including a photo of the mess (think kitchen explosion) but I decided I wasn't that humble, and I didn't want to make Barb cry.

I did, however, clean up my mess and pots while the dish baked in the oven. Yeah!

Internets, it was a really yummy dish and from now on a regular dish here at our house. Thanks for sharing it Barb!