Life of Wry

I have nothing to blog about (besides a million blogs to catch up on.. like this year’s Guatemala, Oregon, Ann Arbor, and Arizona trips that I haven’t reported on, not to mention last year’s big trip all over the place that I haven’t touched.. and a few other smaller trips, but), so I’ll post a pic of this:

I love them, but never make casseroles. I made a double batch of that one today because have two friends who are laid up (one with a fractured pelvis and one who had open heart surgery) and I needed to come up with a fast and easy follow up to my reflexive, “I’ll bring you a meal” offer. I’m not very practiced on the art of delivering meals to recovering friends. It stresses me out every time. What I do know is that we absolutely loved receiving meals when Peter was born (and maybe some folks brought us food when I had my hip replaced). All I know is, every delivery was a thrill and greatly appreciated. So… how hard can it be to be on the giving side of that transaction?

Well… I haven’t figured out the best way to do it.. have tried numerous things, not sure any of them have been hits (but of course it’s the thought that counts, right?). I’m not sure my casserole dinners tonight were any better than past clumsy efforts, but it was at least a bit more traditional.

I’ll keep working at it.

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Oh, so tonight’s casserole had three main parts…

Pasta that you prepare al dente and to which you add broc florets in the final minute of the boil:

Cut up pre-cooked chicken (like from a rotisserie chick or baked up yourself).. and I added a couple different sausages for extra punch…(one was chicken artichoke, the other chicken gruyere):

And finally a mushroom soup that you make (rather than use canned cream of mush soup.. a staple of so many casseroles!), that’s got butter, onion, garlic, crimini mushrooms, flour, broth, milk, dijon, cheddar, s&p (which was quite tasty!):

Mix it all together:

And bake it for 25 mins or so, adding a layer of cheddar half way through.

Came out good enough, a bit rich. I made enough for lots of dinners for Jim and me (froze a bunch).

And again… I’ll keep working at it.