How to Eat Fried Worms & Share It: Ritz Chicken Casserole

This recipe came from my childhood best friend Caryn’s mom.  We always loved it.  At home, we called it Fried Worms because we loved the book How to Eat Fried Worms so much, didn’t really have a great name for this casserole.  (We thought of the poppy seeds as worm eyes- doesn’t that make you want to make this recipe! Just saying. . .  It’s what we called it. . . the imagination of kids, right?)

The thing about this recipe is that I’ve never met anyone who didn’t like it and it’s simple and easy.

This time when I made it, I made it for work.  So, I actually baked it in the Roaster.  I’ll get all the stuff ready the night before then bake it at work.  Here’s what I do:

I mix the chicken, sour cream, and cream of chicken soup together and place them in a gallon size ziploc- refrigerate overnight next to the sticks of butter then put both in my cooler to take to work.

Then, I mix the crumbs and poppy seed and put that in a baggie.  I then gather everything up I need and put it all in the roaster: the roaster, the rack for the roaster, pot holders, the crumb mixture, a container and lid used to melt butter and mix the crumb mixture (I bring the lid so that I can close the dirty container and wash it at home), a foil covered 13 X 9 (foil for easy clean-up), and the lid to my 13X9.  (I have forks/knives/spoons at in my office.)

Then I put it together and bake in the roaster- it usually takes a little longer than at home.

Lasagna: So Easy A Child Can Make It

Tonight, I’m making an old favorite- Lasagna.  In fact, Cody likes this better than frozen lasagna.  It couldn’t be easier to make.  The recipe actually comes from a children’s cookbook.  It doesn’t require cooking the noodles and requires ordinary ingredients. 

 The trick to this recipe, to me, is making sure that the edges of the noodles get either covered or at least moistened prior to baking.  My other tip- use foil for lining and covering the pan.

Birthday Cake

Most years, I don’t get a birthday cake and somehow that bothers me. This year, when I told Cody about it, he set out to fix it. We raided the pantry to see what kinds of cake mixes I had and there was Red Velvet Cake. So, Cody set out to make it. I had to laugh when he asked if he needed to split the eggs. It reminded me of just how many things we make from scratch in my home. But, of course, I told him no- it’s a box cake. They’re designed to be easy.

Next it was time for the icing- which happens to be Cody’s favorite icing, lucky for him, right? A little reward for him. Now our family’s red velvet cake icing isn’t hard but you kinda need to know what you’re doing. So, he reads the recipe. . . “5 tbsp of flour” I hear him exclaim. I explained that yes to you take the flour and the milk and you cook them until literally you can’t stir them anymore. Then you let it cool. He asked three times if he was done stirring.

He reminded me while stirring that I wasn’t in the kitchen stalking him with the camera- needless to say, I got the camera out.

When the cake was ready, he got it out. . . and since he knew I was taking pictures, he just had to have the cake tester facing so that you could read “Cake Tester”- he’s a nut as I’m sure you know.

Then it was time for him to study the icing recipe some more. I had to tell him that he needed to wait a bit or else the icing would totally melt.

So, he begins creaming the icing- using the pulse on the food processor. . . . Ah, you got to love him. He brought lots of smiles. And, he learned a few things, I hope- like cream means you let the food processor go for a while. As he was making the icing, he said he never figured his favorite icing would be so difficult.

Then, of course it was time to move on to the icing of the cake. I laughed when I heard him first get aggravated- red velvet cake always seems to crumble while icing it. But, then I noticed he was getting rather chinchy with icing. . . (He couldn’t wait to eat what remained, of course.)

The cake, it was delicious! (Sorry Jacksters, I know you both love this cake. Should have been here.)

PS Can you tell I was on a dish cleaning hiatus for the day?

December Daily: Final Pages

Wow!  I finished this project and I’m so glad I did it.  Thanks to all of my family and friends who put up with me “documenting” each day- and those that took shots for me as well.

I love how this project made me think about the little blessings throughout the day- and how I noticed even more afterwards while looking at the pictures and reflecting on each day.

Here are the last two daily pages:

December 24:

Traditional but untraditional- After a lazy day, we had our orange chicken without the gravy and rice for dinner. We opened gifts- I love this picture of Cody that captures the "Oh gee- I got a rain guage" I got until he realized why he got them. Our gifts proved we listen to each other. After Christmas eve service, Mom "helped" me with communion.

I needed an additional page so I made another hymn page to go to the left of my Christmas Day page:

December 25:

Christmas day was all about family-loving the little moments of togetherness like Cody and Coralyn in the kitchen, me and Jack making fritters, and everyone enjoying my scrapbooking.

That left me with the cover pages.  Since I ended up documenting hockey fights, screaming, and winning the day I took pictures of the house decorations, I decided I’d use those along with a few pictures of the tree for my covers.

Now, on to other projects. . . My One Little Word for 2011 (I’ll be posting about that super soon as I’m really ready to begin 2011!), Yesterday and Today class at Big Pictures Classes, and Project Life/365- a third try to document the entire year.

December Daily: Dec 17-23

It’s almost Christmas and I’ve spent some time going back through the last week as I catch-up on my December Daily pages.  It’s amazing to me how much this project has made me thing about the special things this month- or even the regular everyday activities that December brings.  It’s also amazing that the project is almost over.

December 17

Journaling reads; Waiting, that was the name of the name of the game today. First, it was waiting for Cody to get done with his ride along so I could hear all about it- especially after he told me they went on a disturbance call. but, then, the wait was even longer for Lisa to get here so we could visit. Of course, by the time she made it, we were both ready for bed. But, we talked a while first.

 December 18 

Today was a great day. Cody was off hunting at the deer lease and left Lisa and I to ourselves. Lisa and I watched old videos of Jack when he was younger- we even posted one on his facebook- oh how Jack’s face in it made us laugh. then, we got down to business. . . creating a website for Lisa’s work. While web work isn’t exactly fun, it was fun being able to help Lisa out with all the things I’ve learned. We had a few challenges but they are just opportunties to learn. . . and a few tricks I’m even going to try on my website. But, in all the time we got to spend working on the site, we also got time to talk and catch up. We simply just got to spend the day together.

 December 19 

Journaling Reads: We had dad’s birthday lunch a day early. Conversations included their new cell phones, working out, the football game Cody was watching, and Cody’s ride-a-longs.

December 20

Journaling Reads: After Cody left for Lisa’s, I baked cookies, put on music, and decorated our tree. It was the first time we’ve put the King Ranch ornaments Coralyn has gotten us since 1996 on the main tree.

December 21

Journaling: Today seemed to be about preperation. Cody’s present arrived and I wrapped it before he had the chance to see it. I made several batters for cookies to bake Wednesday, and Cody helped me clean house before Coralyn came up.

 December 22

Journaling Reads: 234 Cookies plus a few. Today, Cody and I made five different kinds of cookies for the troopers at his office. Sad thing is, they’ll only get a dozen and a half each. We had less than 10 extra cookies. I don’t know how I’d have done it without Cody’s help.

 December 23 

Journaling Reads: Our traditional Christmas eve eve dinner wasn’t quite traditional. We used the mixture from Cody’s oopsy instead of mexican meat. Cody had put picante instead of spaghetti sauce with hamburger meat the night before. It still tasted good.

December Daily: Dec 7-11

Well, it’s safe to say that I got a wee bit behind on my December Daily pages- which I finished tonight.  But, I’m not behind on taking time to enjoy the season and this project. 

Here’s my pages up through tonight and a slice of life this last week.

Dec 7th

Really? So I forgot to unplug the truck one morning last year. Two notes! Perhaps one, but two. It was the first time I've headed for work when the truck was plugged in since this spring, but I don’t think I needed both reminders from Cody before he left town. But perhaps I did. If nothing else this one made me smile.

Dec 8th

Dec 10

Cody was off early today so he went to the grocery store, came home and packed, and went hunting. When I got home after work, there were three Little Debby Christmas Trees on the counter. I knew Cody was in the blind so I texted him.

And Lastly Tonight- Still can’t believe Pominville got in a fight. . .

Tis the Season- Hit Him!I was in the spirit tonight- not exactly the holiday spirit- but it was a fun game to watch even if we lost. I could be heard screaming- Make 'em pay, shoot the Puck, Hit him! Score! This is the Season!

Dec 9th

Then and Now: 5 Years- Some Pancakes and a Stink and Triggers

So, a few months back we went to the Caldwell Zoo with Lisa and Jack.  (We won’t talk about all the problems with the truck that followed that trip!).  While there I “manufactured” a shot to compare Jack then and now.  I knew I wanted a similar shot of him, so I helped myself with a little gentle push of Jack.

I thought I’d share those two pics today now that I’m starting to catch up on a back log of pics that I have for editing.  (New Computer= Freeing Lightroom with some Speed!- Sorry got geeky there, didn’t I.)  As I looked at them I noticed that I also had then and now shots from the same two visits in our kitchen.

It’s amazing to me how much this kid has grown in such a short time, but then again, part of me can’t believe it’s only been five years since the 2005 shots.  Was he really that little then?  It won’t be much longer and he’ll be taller than me. . . and really not that much longer than he’s taller that Cody. . . or at least I expect he’ll get that tall.

Ok. . . Comparison #1- In with the Rhinos where it definitely stinks.  I couldn’t quite get him to make the same expression. . . .

Summer 2005:

Summer 2010

;

A side note that I find interesting: The difference in his size and my camera is fairly obvious.  But what’s not as obvious is the similarities in his shirts.  The first shirt, a humorous look at 10 things not to say on a road trip, is from a trip he took with his Nana and Papa.  The second shirt is from the trip we took with him last year. 

Comparison #2- While #1 is somewhat staged, this one certainly isn’t.  It’s something that happens everytime Jack comes up.  In fact, it even happens at the deer lease and finally happened just last week when we were at his house.

Summer 2005

Summer 2010

Back then of course, we helped him make the pancakes.  These days we just sit in the living room demanding he cook us breakfast. . . not that he isn’t a willing participant or that if he wanted us to come in there we would.  But, he can make them from start to finish on his own now- all those early mornings of getting up to help him fix pancakes are paying off now- I can be lazy now.

Comparison #3. . . so while typing this, I realized I had yet another pair of then and now shots from these two visits.  While the others show progression in size and cooking abilities, this one shows a whole other progression- one that I’m sure Uncle Cody is super proud of and one that Jack is more than happy to make. 

Summer 2005

Summer 2010

Cody had promised that Jack would get to shoot the pistols next time he came up, so they had to squeeze a little time in this trip to do so.  Jack posted one of the pics from shooting pistols on his facebook and his comment says it all “I love that gun”

Another interesting to me side note: Back then, we had introduced Jack to Johnny Horton music (is there any better road music at that age?) and so the coke cans he was shooting became the “Bloody British”.  Just last week, Cody said that a Johnny Horton song came on the TV while he was down there and Jack started singing it.

Kitchen Discontent: Some New Recipes

For whatever reason, I haven’t been content to make the same old things in the kitchen at night for dinner.  I’ve been trying a number of new recipes and have enjoyed most of them.  Here’s a few examples:

I picked up a cookbook with Campbell’s Soup recipes which included these:

Each Chicken & Cheese Enchiladas (We both thought it needed a little less of the creamy sauce)

Creamy Ranch Pork Chops and Rice (We fell in love with this one)

Another great source of recipes that I love is Kraft Foods.  I subscribe to their Food & Family Magazine and look forward to each issue.

When I got my iphone last month, I downloaded “ifood” which is from Kraft Foods.  Some of the recipes we’ve tried from there include:

Foil Pack Chicken Fajita Dinner

Gotta Empanadas Of course, I made this with homemade pie crust.

Southwest Chicken Salad Panini

Taco Bake

Mexican Style Lasagna

We’ll probably grill tonight but I wonder what we’ll have tomorrow.

Christmas in Pictures, Not! Christmas Without Pictures

Since I haven’t blogged in a while, you’ll have to bear with me for a short tangent.  Last Christmas, or maybe the year before, my nephew got a Wii.  We’ve been down there a few times and loved playing it.  He and his mom came up earlier this week and they brought the Wii. . . Well one thing led to another and we wound up buying a Wii ourselves. which arrived just about the time they left Wednesday taking their Wii with them . . .

I do not have any pictures from our Christmas gathering this year.  I didn’t even get my camera out.  We didn’t get into any shooting wars.  I think that’s a first for my family in many, many years.

My mother-in-law drove up and arrived on Wednesday.  My parents, brother, and his girlfriend came over Christmas Day.  I was more organized than ever with the meal.  I had to be. . . I had plans for Christmas Day and while I wanted to eat good, I did not want to spend the day in the kitchen. 

As soon as my family arrived, we let them grab a small snack and then hit them with our best shot.  Sorry, couldn’t resist that.  We created Mii’s for them and then made each of them thake the Wii Fit Body Test. . . Isn’t that just what you should do to all your houseguests and a festival (AKA feast day)?  But, that’s what we did. . .

And then the games began. . . We played the Wii Fit all day long.  We flew through the air, ski jumped, headed soccer balls, caught fish while sliding on icebergs, and had a few snowball fights despite the fact we did not have a white Christmas.   We all threw caution to the wind and made fools of ourselves.  And with a few broken no camera moments by my brother and father, there are no pictures to embarrass us with.

Before we knew it, it was time to eat.  Yum, Yum.  We had our typical Stephenson’s Restaurant and Family Recipe meal.  We started with just a doubled batch of Banana Fritters (usually, it’s banana, apple, and another flavor).  Then came the meal- ham, Grandma’s macaroni and cheese, green beans, bread, and frozen fruit salad.  Did I leave anything out. . . I don’t think so. . . we made sure we did not have any repeats of the Thanksgiving forgets.  For dessert, we had banana cake and pumpkin pie.  And a few more Wii games.  Now, I just have to keep up with the Wii to work off all that food.

Before I knew it the day was over without any pictures.  Even the clean-up was mighty easy and didn’t get any pics.  It was one of the absolute funnest Christmas’s I can remember.

November is Here! Routines and Schedules Please

October is Gone!  Praise the Lord!  November is Here!  I love that each year, each month, each week, each day, each hour, we’re given a fresh starting point.

October wasn’t the best month around here.  It had it’s share of the blues, wacky times, and busy times.  There was no routine and no schedule.  Everything seemed to suffer- we we’re exhausted, we ate miserably, the house became a mess. . . and this blog really suffered too.

Each year, November brings a new rhythm to our household.  Hunting season comes into full swing.  Gone are the days of preperation and the overnights at the deer lease begin.  With a new place to stay at the deer lease, I plan on being out there more often.  I know I want to enjoy my time out there.  

And I knew with everything that October was and everything I want November to be, I need to get organized.  We bought the month’s groceries last week.  I wanted to get a head start.  I wanted to do some freezer cooking.  So, after shopping for the month’s groceries, this was the scene on my dining room table- before I started cooking each of the recipes you see on the table.  Our freezers are full.

Now, I can settle into the rhythm that November brings- the new rythymn that this year will bring.