Wednesday, January 26, 2011

a culinary success day

It's pretty fabulous what a Crock Pot can do...

This morning's festivities began at 8:31am and included cutting up russet potatoes, carrots, celery, and onion. These were layered in the bottom of my trusty Crock Pot, followed by a quickly de-giblet-ed and rinsed whole chicken. (Thanks my dear husband who got groceries last night!) I sprinkled on salt, pepper, and herbs de Provence...mmm.... and added 3 cups of water and a can of cream of mushroom soup. The soup was probably unnecessary, but I wasn't really thinking about it at that point, since I had to be out the door at 8:50, firm. I set the cooker for eight hours on low, tossed some salad greens into a tupperware, grabbed salad dressing, and took off for school.

The day at school was rather stressful - we've added another destination to our choir tour, and I'm responsible for contacting people and helping to make all the necessary arrangements. There are a lot of details to figure out! I'm working on a very detailed itinerary, getting hotel quotes, and finding activities for our free day in Florida (celebrate! warm weather sounds amazing right now). I also realized that I had done the wrong reading assignment for my Theory class - it's nice to work ahead, but I certainly didn't mean to, and now I'm scrambling to finish for tomorrow's class. My final task of the day was to finish the entrance counseling for the school loan we're planning to take. The loan process is rather detailed and scary. It's frustrating to have to go into an experience where the "helpers" are only interested in making money off of me. I really hope we get to take the education tax credit again this year...

The hubby has been working extra long hours, too. It's a special challenge to be able to relate well when we're both stressed and tired. I hope tonight is a beautiful, relaxing ten minutes together before we fall asleep.

Anyway, I came home to a house that smelled absolutely delicious. Mmm! Good thing I had a granola bar at school, or I would have been ravenous. I love the way that slow-cooked chicken just falls right off the bone! I separated the chicken, veggies, and broth into separate containers so that I could make sure there were no bone pieces in anything. It sure is an oily job, but I'm glad I did it. I'm hoping to make soup with the broth sometime later this week, and there's enough chicken for all sorts of fabulous meals. Ideas, anyone?

I also took out some frozen pumpkin and made a pie (surprise!). I guess I thought the crust I had made would be big enough, but I ended up having to dump some of the filling into my smallest French White dish. Oh, well. No one minds a bit of pumpkin custard, right? It's a souffle! (a yummy souffle...I couldn't resist.)
Both turned out well...




And here's my cute Oscar-cat to finish the post. Have a good night!

2 comments:

Kristen said...

gee linnea, i wish you would be a little more productive with your days... ;)

dinner sounded sooo good!

Meg said...

Sounds delish!! I love crock pots. They've become my favorite thing in the winter.