September 18, 2011

Surprise (or not)

You would think that after taking a hiatus from my computer yesterday, that I'd be loaded with things to blog about this morning. Unfortunately, I spent most of my time lying on the couch watching Lifetime Movie Network and trying to get over this stupid cold. It's moved from my throat to my sinuses now, so I'm blowing my nose constantly.

I have managed to stick with my no-eating-after-7 challenge, and it hasn't really been hard at all. That surprises me! But I've been going to bed at about 9, so I'm certainly not hungry when I go to bed. I've been craving comfort foods galore while I've been sick. Yesterday, for dinner, I made the mother of all comfort foods (to me, anyway)--chicken noodle casserole, otherwise known as "Jerry's Chicken Casserole Surprise". Here's the story about that:

Shortly after we were married and moved into our new house, and I was pregnant, when I went to the bathroom I noticed that I had some spotting. I was really nervous and scared, because it was so early in my pregnancy. My mom had a miscarriage with her first pregnancy, so I was worried that was happening to me. It was a Sunday evening, so I couldn't go into the doctor's office. I decided to wait until Monday morning to do anything.

Knowing that I was a nervous wreck and feeling really upset, Jerry decided to try to make dinner. He'd never cooked anything in his life, so he was clueless--but instead of asking me, he got out a cookbook that my aunt had given me and he found a recipe for chicken-noodle casserole. He made it, and it turned out pretty good. I couldn't eat much, because of my nerves. Turns out everything was fine with my pregnancy (Noah is now 7!) and now that casserole is total comfort food to me, because it reminds me of that night.

I don't know why he gave it a name that would possibly be used in a school cafeteria--"Jerry's Chicken Casserole Surprise". Apparently he felt like he had to rename it because he cooked something? When I asked why the "surprise", he said, "I don't know. Don't all casseroles have the word 'surprise' in them?"

Comfort food tastes so much better when you're sick. I've been having "Screamin' Rice" for breakfast the past few days. Screamin' Rice is something that we had as kids--actually "Cream of Rice" with butter, sugar, and milk on top. For some reason, we called it Screamin' Rice, so that's what I call that combo to this day.



I feel kind of bad that I have no pictures to post over the past couple of days. Oh wait, my kids went squirrel hunting for the first time with my dad...
Eli, my dad, and Noah
They actually shot a squirrel, too! Eli was soooo excited to go. For days, he kept asking me if it was time to go squirrel hunting yet. His teacher heard all about it, and he was counting the minutes. So of course he was thrilled when they got a squirrel. I don't know that I've ever tried squirrel meat. My dad used to hunt them and cook them when I was a kid, so I probably tried it, but I don't remember. My dad always gave me the squirrel tails after he skinned the squirrels... gross, huh?  Hahaha, I loved it. He gave Eli the tail from the squirrel they just got, and Eli is going to bring it to show-and-tell on Tuesday. His poor teacher ;)



And I guess I will leave you with a "Google search of the day". (If I can remember, I'll post one of these on each of my entries, since the blog post I did seemed to be a hit):

Hmm, what a great question! I think a better question is, why are you wearing long pink shorts?


What is your mother-of-all-comfort-foods? Is there a story behind it? Share, please!


13 comments:

  1. For me, comfort food is best when someone else cooks it. It makes me feel so nurtured.

    Some favs are - homemade macaroni and cheese, roasted chicken w/mashed potatoes & gravy, meatloaf & mashed potatoes, and any type of gooey cheesey casserole. Unfortunately I also like homemade baked goods. Banana bread, snickerdoodle cookies, and chocolate chip cookies are regulars.

    I hope you feel better soon Katie! Be sure to read my comment on your lasagna soup that I made yesterday. :)

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  2. I love your Chicken casserole story-your hubby sounds so sweet! Mine is homemade tomato soup for sure.

    Hope you feel better soon!

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  3. Homemade Chicken pot pie is my fav comfort food!! Hope you get feeling better soon!!

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  4. Mine is chicken and noodles too--only it's HOMEMADE noodles. I can't make them as good as Mom used to, but I still love them. Funny how food can make you feel so safe. Because in reality, some of the stuff I overate was more than likely killing me. Oh well, I try to eat less of that kind of stuff now, and get out and walk/run it off either before or after I eat it. Seems to be working so far??!!

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  5. I have so many foods that comfort or remind me of things in my childhood. Grilled cheese sandwiches on homemade bread with tomato soup reminds me of coming home for lunch when I was a kid. My mom didn't work outside the home till I was about 10 and I loved coming home for a hot lunch.
    Alpha-getti reminds me of my best friend when I was young. Her parents both worked so they bought convenience foods (my mom would never buy canned spaghetti) I thought Alpha-getti was the bomb..LOL!

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  6. Hi Katie, hope you feel MUCH better soon!!! My mom's home made from scratch mac and cheese is still comforting to me. And chocolate milk. We were only allowed to drink that when we were sick. Hope your Sunday is good.

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  7. Hi! I just wanted to let you know I've been reading your blog for about a week and I thought I'd say hello so I'd stop feeling like such a stalker. :) I found your Spark page and, voila! I love reading your blog and you are very inspirational! Thanks for all you share!

    Heidi
    (starbellied on spark...I'm not super active on there...)

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  8. How adorable do your kids look?? Too cute.
    I thought I was the only one who ate rice that way. I also put cinnamon on mine. Whenever anyone sees me fixing it up they look at me like I'm from another planet. Actually, I guess that brings back the most comforting memories for me because my grandmother used to make it that way for me whenever I came to visit in the summertime.

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  9. My absolute, all-time, gotta have it or nothing will EVER be better comfort food is KFC mac and cheese. It's my mom's fault. Back in 1979 when she was pregnant with me she ate it all the time because she worked there. Then the first major illness I can remember having as a child was a wicked case of the (morbid) sore throat. It was awful and EVERYTHING felt like razorblades going down. Then my mom got KFC for dinner and brought me two containers of mac and cheese. It felt so good on my throat that I ate BOTH containers. I spent the next four days eating it.

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  10. Oh, geez, I totally thought you were leading up to a pregnancy announcement! Ha! I love Jerry's name for his dish. That is so cute. Also cute are your boys and your dad in their hunting gear! I went to school with a boy who used to tell stories about squirrel hunting and squirrel burgers. He never brought in a tail for show-and-tell though. :) Someone found my blog over the weekend by searching 'ultramarathon tampon change.' I bet you'd do great running a full.

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  11. mine has got to be ice cream..ice cream..ice cream...love it and would eat it for every meal if I would never get heavier because of it. (After running 9 miles on Saturday I had to congratulate myself...yep, I did it with ice cream..a Vanilla Moolatte to be exact. YUM!)

    Squirrel hunting...Hmmmm...gross and good on different levels of course.

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  12. My mom made the best chicken & whole wheat, homemade noodles! She passed away over 20 years ago, and I've tried to make them, but it never comes out like hers.

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  13. This post made me LMAO! I love Jerry's answer as to why he named the casserole the way he did! You're lucky you've got a man who will at least attempt to cook. The only thing my hubby will cook is steak on the grill and mac and cheese. Did I mention I'm not much of a steak eater?

    As for the "screamin' rice," I think everyone has a food like that. Hubby still calls grilled cheese "gorilla cheese." We've even got our son doing it now. LOL!

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I used to publish ALL comments (even the mean ones) but I recently chose not to publish those. I always welcome constructive comments/criticism, but there is no need for unnecessary rudeness/hate. But please--I love reading what you have to say! (This comment form is super finicky, so I apologize if you're unable to comment)

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