What's for Dinner? Chicken Noodle Casserole

I'm not a food blogger, but I love food blogs. I really love to read about recipes and cooking. I'm especially impressed by food photography (Side note: Several weeks ago, I was working the shop and I brought along the "100" issue of Saveur magazine. The photography was was beautiful and so scrumptious looking that I felt like I could lick the pages and taste the dishes. Obviously, no such luck, but I did end up at Central Market right after my shift to buy ingredients to make Tomato Bread Salad with herbed roule. Yum!)

I'm a big fan of casseroles, a much maligned food category, in my opinion. When you're in a rush and you're trying to think of something delicious and satisfying to feed your family, a casserole always seems to hit the spot. I sometimes imagine that if the Midwest had an official regional food, it would be The Casserole. Being a lover of chicken noodle soup, but wanting something more substantial, I decided to improvise and create the Chicken Noodle Casserole. (Recipe below.)

Queen Sassy Pant's More Than Delicious Chicken Noodle Casserole

Ingredients:

1 Rotisserie chicken, meat pulled from bone and cubed (or if you prefer, about a pound of chicken breast, cooked and cubed)
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced white or yellow (non-sweet) onion
1 pound linguini, broken in half, cooked just shy of al dente (any short pasta will suffice, really)
1.5 cups of milk (I used 2%. If you want a saucier casserole, you may need as much as 2 cups)
1 can of Cream of Chicken soup, though Cream of Celery or Cream of Mushroom would be just as delicious
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375. Spray a casserole dish (in this case, a 5-qt Le Creuset French oven) with non-stick spray and add noddles. Set aside.

2. In a skillet or non-stick pan, over medium-low heat, sweat the vegetables until soft. You don't want them to brown, but rather slowly release their flavor. This takes about 10-12 minutes.

3. In a medium sized sauce pan, combine milk, soup, and 2 T of Parmesan. Allow to thicken slightly.

4. Combined chicken, skillet vegetables, peas, and sauce. Pour over noodles in the casserole dish and carefully stir to incorporate. Top with remaining Parmesan cheese.

5. Bake at 375 for about 40 minutes or until bubbly. For a brown top, pop under the broiler for about 10 minutes. Enjoy!

Insomnia and Recovery

On Friday, I got to ditch that nasty ol' gallbladder and since then have been having a bugger of a time sleeping. I think the real trouble is that I sleep so much during the day that I'm awake at night and can't quite get back on track.

There are some considerable holes in my blog right now. Between my trip to the ER last week and then the eviction of my icky gallbladder...well, there isn't much to tell. I'm hoping to start a short series soon on living simply. It's a recession; people are downsizing. I thought I'd put my two cents out there on how I'm going to do my part in being the family-finance manager. Stay tuned.

Now if only I could get some shut-eye...

What a week!

Well, the last couple of weeks have been pretty nutty around here. Mostly in a good way (at least until Thursday, when a certain bodily organ who shall remain nameless decided to be a total butthole! But more on that in a minute.)

So quick re-cap:

1. I finished up Cake Decorating 101 and totally loved it! My final cake was just delightful and so pretty. I didn't quite master the Wilton Rose technique, but I think with practice and the right icing, I should be cranking out a thousand in now time! (Oh who am I kidding?! They make bakeries for those kinds of things, don't they?)

2. Though I finished up Cake Decorating class with flying colors, I missed Week 3 so I could attend an informational session of a very well know and somewhat misunderstood woman's volunteer organization. I found out they are much more than just white glove tea parties and cotillions! Being someone who can't say no, of course I signed on the dotted line. So that's now two highly involved organizations that demand oodles of time that I'm adding to the activities list. I'm really excited!

3. I had a job interview, was offered the position, and then turned it down all in one day. I know, I know... in this economy with so many people out of work, what kind of idiot turns down a job? The kind that would have been miserable doing the work. It was totally up my skill set alley, but I'm discovering there is a lot more to working than just getting a pay check. I want to enjoy my work and feel like I'm doing something worthwhile, and for me, this job just wasn't it.

4. And finally, my gall bladder is a total butt hole. Okay, not literary (ehhh...now I've got a mental image going on here. Give me a sec...) On Thursday, after a very delicious but small bowl of mac 'n cheese, I ended up doubled over in the most horrible pain of my life. And I've had a baby! Gone through 5 IV starts, 2 epidurals, 1 c-section (and a partridge in a pear tree!) This pain was more horrible than that times 1000. I was lucky that King Sassy Pants was working from home that day and was able to cart me to the ER (with Prince Sassy in tow). One dose of Zofran, a shot of morphine, and an ultrasound later --- well, let's just say in my gall bladder are what look like Cadbury chocolate mini eggs (Ha! Bet you're not going to eat any of those this Easter!) So, the gall bladder is taking a hike next Friday. Ahhh, yes, outpatient surgery. It's exactly how I love spending Valentine's weekend.

So that's the wrap up so far. I'm just hunkering down for the next week, on my low/no-fat diet so as not to anger the evil Gall. Why is everything that is so delicious also about the most fattening thing on earth!?