Last night I started on the new menu. I was excited to make a new meal. I found a gig in one of my many magazines: 5 days of dinners in one shopping bag. Oh yeah. Some people look at magazines for fashion and beauty tips or even health and fitness. I, ofcourse, go with the mags with the best recipes. I love a new easy recipe with a little twist.
This recipe was chicken brocolli caserole but cooked in a skillet instead of in the oven - there's your twist. And it involved velveeta. I'm in. I had to adjust the recipe a bit because I had left over rotisserie chicken and I was using regular rice instead of instant - because that's what we had - and my momma taught me that a good cook can whip up stuff with what you have - or in my case what I forgot to get at the grocery store. I'm just sayin it didn't make sense to get instant rice when I had rice at home.
It turns out the non-instant rice requires more water than the instant version - and it absorbed all the chicken broth in this recipe before being cooked - think crispy wet rice. So I did what every mom does when she goes to check the pan, privately celebrates that she hasn't burned the food yet but needs to add water quickly - I grabbed my glass of water on the counter and poured some in. I realize this may be gross to some of you - but it was just my family I was cooking for. And I was all proud of my Rachael Ray moment because she measures things with coffee mugs and stuff. And I was all quick thinking on my feet and solving a quick problem and all.
I mean, really, how many of you lick the brownie batter and then stir again? Oh shut up - you know you do it. Or drop the spoon and then just dust it off on your shirt and return it back to the cooking. You know you do that too. Or take a few sips of your beer and then realize it was your husbands and tell him its yours now, he better get a new one. Ok, maybe not the last one, but it's happened here before. I'm just sayin.
So, I got the skillet brocoli rice casserole all done, and served it up. The kids loved it. And about three bites into it, because, yes, I inhale my food - I'm working on it - I realize it's yummy and a little sweet. A few more bites. I'm reviewing the recipe in my head as I eat because where did that subtle sweet taste come from? Hmmmmm.
Uh-oh. That water I added from my cup was flavored water. Woopsie. I added a little bit of Hy-Vee strawberry water cooler to chicken broccoli casserole. If you guys knew how many times I do stuff like this and my poor family suffers through it. They actually refer to it as a certain "je na sais quoi". Or this particular mishap, they like and referred to it as - a sweet wang.
I personally appreciate the reputation I'm developing with my family in the kitchen. Moreso, I'm glad they still eat what I put in front of them every night.
That's how I roll.
