This week I COOKED!!!

It was my weekend off this weekend. Awoke very early on Saturday a.m., having crashed hard around 9 on Friday night. I'd been to the grocery store before coming home on Friday, too. Actually had ideas wandering around in there, too. Decided to get the necessary things to make a corn casserole, a broccoli-cheese rice casserole and do something with that bag of stuffing mix. Of course, deciding to cook and committing to ingredients had the side effect of actually getting me to tidy up the kitchen a bit.

It was a rainy Saturday as I toddled around the house gathering and sorting laundry while I preheated the oven. Corn casserole was first, because it is pretty much just throwing ingredients into a bowl and stirring them. Two cans of creamed corn, a can of drained "Mexicorn", a can of chopped green chilies, a box of Jiffy corn muffin mix, an egg and a cup of green onion dip. A dash or two of chili powder and a cup of Mexican blend shredded cheese. Poured into a 9x13 dish sprayed with cooking spray. Sprinkle some additional shredded cheese on top, and bake in a 350 oven for 45 minutes or so, until it is a little brown on top and the cheese on top is nicely melted.

While it cooked, I made the rice for the broccoli-cheese rice casserole. I do not use Minute Rice. I cook one cup of long grain white rice in 1 3/4 cups of cold salted water. Turns out perfectly for me every time using that ratio of rice to water and following the cooking directions on the bag for timing. Mixed the rice with most of a 20 oz. bag of frozen chopped broccoli that I thawed by running it under cold water. Added a can of 98% fat-free cream of mushroom soup, 1 3/4 cups shredded sharp cheddar, some chopped dried onions, a little garlic powder and some freshly ground black pepper. Poured it into a square 9x9 glass dish. Sprinkled the rest of the shredded cheddar over the top, mixed with some seasoned dried breadcrumbs and a little grated Parmesan cheese. Sprayed the top with cooking spray. Baked for about 40 minutes.

My final casserole creation involved browning some lean ground beef, with finely diced celery and onions. This was mixed with a bag of seasoned stuffing mix, most of a bag of frozen french style green beans, a can of 98% fat-free cream of celery soup and two cans (about 4 cups) of chicken broth. Covered the casserole dish loosely with foil and baked at 350 for about an hour, taking the foil cover off for the last 15 minutes or so.

Now I've got lunches and dinners that will see me through the week. Not that I am opposed to consuming them for breakfast, mind you.

But this week, I cooked!!!