The Plan and Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen's Chicken Broccoli Casserole

I will just jump right into this blog post.  There is no way to ease into it gracefully.  Husband Fred thinks that I have a "Grand Plan" to kill him and collect on the insurance money.  I am not kidding one bit.  Let me tell you a little bit about the "Plan". 

I don't know why, but I leave drawers open - sock drawers, T-shirt drawers, silverware drawers, bathroom drawers, any drawer.  I don't know why.  I have no clue.  Maybe I am just lazy when it comes to closing drawers.  Unfortunately, if I leave one open at night, guess who runs into it?  Not me but Husband Fred.  He is always wandering at night to let the cats out or to go the bathroom.  I know he has run into an open drawer when I hear the proverbial guttural primal shout-out!  I won't get into what he shouts out, but you get the picture.  As he throws himself back into bed in pain, he will always mutter "Is this part of the Plan?" 

One night about five years ago, I was having a bout with insomnia.  Of course, Husband Fred was loudly sawing logs at my side.  I can honestly say that I despised him at that moment.  Why does sleep come so easily to him?  As I tossed and turned, I started thinking from a medical background about snoring.  What could I do to stop that horrible noise?  I was in the midst of teaching CPR to my students, and I thought "I will open his airway!"  To do this, you must place one hand on the forehead and one hand on the chin.  You then pull back on the head and tilt it back.  Oh yeah!  So here I go!!  I positioned myself on my knees so that I could perform this technique on Husband Fred without his permission during his slumber.  I got as far as the tilting of the head back!!  Husband Fred opened his eyes which bugged out really far when he saw me perched over him with my hands on his head.  He screamed "Is this part of the Plan?"  He looked so weird that I knew in my heart that he did not believe me when I said "I was just trying to see if I could get you to quit snoring!"  Usually he sleeps with his back to me, but that night, he didn't.  He kept an eye on me.

Just this past week, the "Plan" came into play again.  As I have told you before, Husband Fred colors my hair.  We have the routine down.  I set up a stool in the den and mix the color.  He spends the next 10 minutes trying to get the gloves on.  The gloves come with the color and must be made for a Size 0 woman.   I could do a whole blog post on watching him try to put the gloves on.  I digress.  Anyway, after the color is on, I usually clean up, but I didn't this time.  This means I left the stool out in the middle of the den floor.  Whoops!  We go to bed and around 3:00 am or so, Mickey, the sweetest cat in the world, wants to go out.  As always, Husband Fred gets up without complaint to let him out.  A few minutes later, I hear the weirdest sound.  There is a loud thump followed by the primal groan.  I thought "What now?"  He got in the bed and was rolling around in agony.  I was so tired that I pretended not to hear him because I did not want to get in a discussion about "The Plan!"  That next morning, I staggered into the kitchen, and there he stood.  And out came the words "Was that part of The Plan?"  I played dumb and replied "I don't know what you are talking about dear!"  Through gritted teeth, he responds "Leaving the stool out!  I ran into it, kicked it, and about broke my ankle!  And while I am on the subject of The Plan, why do you have to always take your shoes off on my side of the bed?  I tripped over those as I was getting back into bed after falling over the stool!"  I sweetly replied "Well, at least, I didn't leave a drawer open!"  He did not find that in the least bit funny! 

Fun times!!  On to the recipe.....I am still cooking from Trisha Yearwood's cookbook.  I love this cookbook.  The Eeny game chose Chicken Broccoli Casserole.  You need to run go get the ingredients for this one right now.  It is absolutely beyond delicious!!  Trisha says that Garth eats this for breakfast.  It is that good!!

I forgot two things in the ingredient picture.  Good grief!!  Chicken and rice!!  You will also need cheddar cheese, sour cream, broccoli, cream of chicken soup, lemon, and mayo!!  Look Food Police at all the fat free, light, and Healthy Request choices I made.  I need a reward!!  How about a doughnut!!  Just kidding!!

Grease a 9x13 dish.  This is my favorite!!  Spread 2 cups of cooked rice as the first layer.

Make a second layer with the cooked broccoli.

Mix the rest of the ingredients together including the chicken.  Beautiful picture!! 

Spread that mixture over the broccoli and top with cheese. Bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.  It comes out smelling and looking yummy!

This is what it looks like when it is screaming to you to take a bite.

Here is the recipe...

Chicken Broccoli Casserole

Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen

Trisha Yearwood

2 C cooked rice

3 C cooked chopped broccoli

1 C sour cream

1/2 C mayonnaise

1 Tbs lemon juice

1 10 ounce can condensed cream of chicken soup

10 ounces Cheddar cheese, grated

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

4 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded ( I used Barefoot Contessa's roasting method - 350 degrees for 35 minutes.  Sprinkle with a little olive oil and salt and pepper before roasting - Delicious)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9x13x2 pan.  Spread the rice as the first layer and then make a second layer with the broccoli. 

In a large bowl, mix the sour cream, mayo, lemon juice, soup, half of the grated cheese, salt, pepper, and chicken.  Pour this mixuter ove the broccoli and top with the remaining cheese.  Bake for 40 minutes and let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Now go have a great day.......





Words with Friends and Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen's Betty's Cabbage Medley

Well, Happy New Year y'all!!!  One of my New Year's resolutions was to post more frequently on my blog.  You can see how well that one is turning out!!  But hopefully, I can right the ship and get moving on it.  Before we get to the new cookbook and the Eeny recipe, I wanted to tell you about my new found love.  I recently broke down and got a SmartPhone - an IPhone to be specific.  I resisted and resisted the urge to spend hard-earned money on a silly phone, but I am here to tell you, it is not just a phone.  It is a mini-computer that makes phone calls!!  I have fallen in love with it.  Of course, there was a major learning curve!!  But I soon discovered the "App Store", and I was off and running.  My first download was "Words with Friends".  It is essentially a Scrabble game!!  You send requests to your friends to play, and the fun begins.  Some games can last weeks depending on how busy you are.  Now that I have played it for awhile, I can honestly see how Alec Baldwin threw a hissy fit on an airplane about having to turn his IPad off before take-off.  He was right in the middle of probably trying to think of a word that would get him a TL (Triple Letter) score plus a TW (Triple Word) score all at once.  It is maddening.  I get it Alec!!  I have four games going right now!  Unfortunately, I have not won a game yet.  I get really upset about this fact.  I am extremely competitive, and this hurts me to the core!!  I feel like I have a good vocabulary and should be able to play well but I think my strategies are weak.  Just last night, I was unable to sleep because one of my friends scored - Are You Ready?!!!- 75 points on one word.  The word was bisk, and it got the coveted TL and TW scores.  I will let you look up the word bisk.  I am still mad!!

Now on to the recipe...I chose Trisha Yearwood's Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen cookbook.  It is filled with wonderful stories about her family and her life with Garth Brooks.  She reminds me of Christy Jordan over at www.southernplate.com.  Their recipes always have memories attached to them.  I love it!!  The Eeny game chose Betty's Cabbage Medley.  I was a little upset about the choice.  Don't get me wrong!!  I love cabbage, and Husband Fred is wild about it.  I was just wanting it to choose something a little more exciting.  But again, I resisted the cheating impulse and proceeded to get started!!

 Here is the beautiful cookbook!!  I love cookbooks!!  Can you tell??  I got five new ones for Christmas this year.  My friends and family know me well!!

In a very large saucepan (I used my wok), spread 1 cup sliced carrots on the bottom.

Layer a cup of thinly sliced onions on top of the carrots.

Layer a cup of diced celery on top of the carrots and onions.

Finally, put about 6 cups of cabbage cut into chunks on the top of the layers!  I think I should have gotten a smaller head of cabbage, but I made it work!!

You sprinkle sugar, warm water and oil over the whole mixture, pop the top on, and cook for 10 minutes.  You stir the vegetables and let them stand for 20 minutes and you are ready to go. 

I served the cabbage with pork chops and a baked sweet potato.  The cabbage was out of this world.  I felt like that was a pretty healthy supper.  What do you think Food Police??

Here is the recipe....

Betty's Cabbage Medley

Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen

Trisha Yearwood

1 C sliced carrots

1 C sliced onions

1 C diced celery

1 small head cabbage, cut in chunks (about 6 cups)

1 Tbs sugar

2 C warm water

1/4 C corn oil

In a large heavy saucepan with a tight-fitting lid, arrange the vegetables in layers in the following order:  carrots, onions, celery, and cabbage. 
Sprinkle the sugar on top, and pour in the water and oil.  Cover the pan and cook over high heat for 10 minutes.  Remove the lid, stir, replace the lid, and let the vegetables stand for 20 minutes.

Now go have a great day...