Chris’s Magical Chicken & Rice Soup

This past Tuesday was just like any other day; I took Ivan to school, went to work, picked him up and came home.  Somewhere on the ride home, however, I started to feel a little less than awesome.  My nose started to run, I could not stop sneezing and my head started to hurt a little.  By the time I woke up Wednesday morning I was officially “sick”.

Sometime after I sent angry text messages to friends that had recently had colds, Chris sent me a message asking me what I would like for dinner.  My appetite and my mood were both pretty lousy so I made the smart-aleck reply that I just wanted to get home and hook myself up to a “whiskey and chicken soup IV”. 

Fortunately for me, Chris did not take the IV part of my comment seriously but she did decide that chicken soup was a good idea and might be a healthy, medicinal dinner selection.  We went to the store straight from work and she got busy in the kitchen as soon as we got home.  I was not up for taking notes on the process so here is the recipe straight from the chef…

Chicken a la Coworker Roulette (With Risotto!)

Yes, Aunt Candy did take a bite of bread before I could take the pic...

Last week we suffered a plumbing disaster that closed our home for business for almost a week.  I will not share all the dirty details of the dilemma but I will just say that we had no drainage whatsoever which prevented us from showering, using the commode, doing laundry or washing dishes.  Feel free to read the full account here but this story is just about a fantastic meal that came out of the train wreck we were experiencing.

We were unable to wash dishes so cooking was not really an option.  Since we had to eat and bathe, however, we were invited to Chris’s Aunt and Uncle’s house for dinner and a shower Friday night.  Chris offered to cook which was the least we could do for their hospitality.  As dirty and stressed out as we were, one might think she kept things simple.  Chris is not one to make things easy on herself though and she chose to use this opportunity to get experimental in Aunt Candy’s kitchen.

Her brain-fart of an idea was this: ask each of her coworkers to suggest an ingredient.  After compiling her list she would create a meal using each of their suggestions.  It was an idea born out of too many reality cooking channel shows and I was not quite sure why this of all weeks seemed like the time to attempt this.  I know better than to question her big ideas, though, so I just said “prosciutto”.

Grit Cakes With Grilled Chicken: Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Grilled Chicken with Grit Cake
and pureed peas

This meal is an extension of the previous evening’s festivities. It started with Chris’s search for a way to use the rest of the grits she made for the stuffed peppers. We had some chicken she wanted to use and, of course, every family dinner needs a green veggie plugged in somewhere along the way. Even though the grits were leftover, she put a twist on things that became a totally unique and original idea that was a big hit with our little family.

Slow Roasted Chicken Tacos & Enchiladas: Sunday September 4, 2011

The chicken thighs sat thawing on the kitchen counter for most of the day.  Chris has to work and I worked around the house being the best House Husband I could possibly be. Chris brought the bacon to a spotless home and lonely furry guy and our attention turned to the chicken on the counter.

“What are we doing with that?” She asked.

“I don’t know. I figured I would thaw it out and we’d come up with something.”

With that we ventured to the grocery store and wandered the aisles looking for a sense of inspiration. Chris was in a daze from being slammed at work all weekend and I am just not that creative. The best I could come up with was “Um, how about something spicy that I will pay dearly for tomorrow?”

This is what she came up with.