Friday Dinner

I am so tired today and so it was take-out from the place a few blocks away. Mac’n'cheese…..

first date dinners

NY Times has an article about first date dinners…How the restaurant can make or break a date…how a restaurant choice can give a person some creditability…

I don’t know if it’s that big deal. Pat and I went to a some what trendy sandwich shop in the Bucktown neighborhood. I mostly remember talking and laughing. The food was good but not what I cared about. I think if the food is what you talk about afterwards, it was probably not a great date.

casserole

My new plan for busy weeks is to make casseroles on the weekend, freeze them, and pull them out during the week. I used to do this when I was in grad school (I also stressed baked and would have layers and layers of cakes in my freezer but that’s another story).
So last weekend I made a casseroles drawing on a friend’s mother’s recipe. I believe the original called for 1 can of cream of mushroom and a bottle of mayonaise, 16 oz of broccoli for a 9 x 13 pan. This is adapted from a family recipe -just not my family’s.
Basically, you take rice (I used brown rice steamed in the microwave), 16 oz frozen chopped broccoli, a shredded poached chicken breast (about 6-8 oz),campbells cheese soup, and mix all of that into a dispoable 9 x9 casserole dish (it doesn’t seem green but if you use a regular one you can have problems going from freezer to oven). Wrap it well with plastic wrap and freeze.

After a busy day, you pull it out of the oven, unwrap, cover with aluminum foil, and bake at 400F for 1 hr. Enjoy!
Very good especially since you can veg out on the couch while it heats up or go out for your 4 mile run knowing a home made dinner is almost ready.

Chili

Who doesn’t like chili especially as it gets a little colder out? (Actually my mom since she hates beans, but just her.)

I made a pot of it a little while ago and it was great. I browned ground beef, while rinsing the canned pinto beans, and getting out the can of crushed tomatoes. I added everything to a big pot and threw in a little chicken stock, cumin, and chili powder. I let it simmer and then had a bowl of it. Delicious and just thing to have on a fall day.

chili

pasta!

NY Times writes about all different kinds of pasta. I love all the different things you can do with pasta plus it’s great to eat before and after long runs (only a few months until I do the Vegas Half Marathon-lots of time for pasta between now and then).

Although instead of the pre-race pasta party, I want to go to Bouchon or Mesa Grill…