Sunday evening Peter and I took our burgeoning chef to the movies, returning home to a pan of enchiladas I had constructed out of the leftover pork tenderloin from Friday night's supper and left in the oven (I love my delay timer). As we ate Emily reminded us that she needed to choose her recipe for the following night, asking Peter if he would still be here or if he was returning to the job site. He assured her he would try to stay, if she was cooking. While she was in the shower later I piled up a few suggestions for her, in the name of saving a little time as the day was quickly winding down, bedtime was fast approaching. She wasted no time in choosing a recipe and I asked her to write a shopping list for me. The list securely tucked into a pocket of my purse she was finally ready for bed. A chapter of "The Magician's Nephew", prayers and a few minuted reading to herself (Devil's Pass, one of the Seven Series) and off to dreamland. We were not terribly far behind.
Monday I made sure to purchase chicken breasts, packaged stuffing mix and more cheese -all I had in the fridge was cheddar, the recipe leaned itself to some mozzarella in the mix. And you can never have too much cheese in any case. At home, after stocking up at Costco, Bulk Barn and the local health food store, and a lovely lunch out, we unloaded the groceries dividing up the items bought to share between his home base and mine. Peter went to collect Emily from the sitter's and I continued to try and create order out of chaos.
Once homework was squared away she set to work in the kitchen. First order of business, make the stuffing mix. I left her with the package and its simple instructions and set to grating some cheese for her. A few minutes later she had a bowl of very wet looking bread crumbs on the counter. I asked how much water she had used. "What was in there," she told me, pointing to the kettle. Peter is a tea drinker, there is never a measured amount of water in said kettle. Sometimes it is nearly full, sometimes almost empty. I told her she really should have measured the water and proceeded to stir in the second box of stuffing mix. Good thing I decided to buy a second box to have on hand....
The recipe then called for white wine to be combined with a can of mushroom soup. A waste of wine-I told her to read the recommended substitution and handed her a carton of chicken stock. And then reminded her that liquid measures & dry measures were not the same, as she poured a half cup of stock into a dry measuring cup. The cheese was grated and I poured more stock into a pan to make wild rice as a side dish while she constructed her dish. Before long chicken breasts layered with a gravy of mushroom soup and stock, cheese and stuffing mix were ready for the oven. When she returned to the dining room to see what we were doing, boldly inviting the furnace installer who had stopped in to repair a forgotten piece of my new furnace to stay to dinner. He laughed graciously and told her his wife probably wouldn't be happy if he didn't go home. Talk about confidence and generosity!
I sent her back to find a vegetable. She insisted that a) the recipe called for steamed broccoli, and b) we had no broccoli. I assured her we did and told her to check again, telling her if I was wrong she would simply have to make something else. We did have broccoli, and she soon had it in the steamer.
Soon timers were chiming and dinner was ready. The new wild rice blend I had bought to try needed a little more cooking time than the package instructions indicated, but that was the only flaw in the meal. Dinner was delicious again, and we had enough leftovers for Peter to take two meals back to Brooks today and for me to have a small plate for lunch tomorrow. Emily learned how to replace wine in a recipe and to measure, measure measure and not assume the water in the kettle is pre-measured.....and how to fix an enthusiastic over-estimation of liquids.
After her shower and bedtime snack Peter gave her the gift he bought her at Costco, a recipe binder to start compiling her growing collection into. She was eager to start at once and was more than annoyed we sent her off to bed telling her she could begin tomorrow. Patience. Another kitchen lesson-harder than waiting for fresh cookies to cool.
4 Cheese Italian Chicken Bake
1 package stuffing mix for chicken 4 small boneless, skinless chicken breasts (1lb approx)
1 can cream of mushroom soup 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese
1/2 c dry white wine (or chicken broth)
Heat oven to 400F. Prepare stuffing mix according to package instructions. Mix soup and wine.
Place chicken in 9x13" baking dish, top with soup, cheese and stuffing. Bake 30 minutes, until chicken is done.
*** The original recipe, calls for Kraft 4 Cheese Italiano shredded cheese blend. I think buying preshredded cheese is expensive. We used a blend of cheddar and mozzarella. I think we should have added a little Parmesan cheese into the mix as well for a little more bite.
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