"what is that?" "dinner, now eat"

Yeah, it didn't start out too pretty

"What is that?"

"It's dinner"

"Yeah, but what IS it?"

"It's dinner, now EAT!"

A conversation carried out in my kitchen this evening.  Probably carried out in every kitchen around the world since the beginning of time.  Tonight's dinner was another experiment in substitution.  My inspiration was my mother's casserole.  All my life that wonderful dish has been known simply as "Casserole".  Probably because all other casseroles pale in comparison, this the the casserole all other casseroles want to be when they grow up, the One Casserole to rule over all.  It's pretty simple.

• One can mushroom soup
• One Cup milk
• One cup shredded cheddar cheese
• one and one half cups uncooked elbow macaroni
• one small jar chopped pimentos
• one cup cooked chicken (or chopped tofu)
• salt and pepper
• 1-2 teaspoons curry powder (or more if you're like me)

Mix all together, pour in dish, cover and bake for one hour @ 350.


So looking in my fridge, here's what i came out with

Look, I even got it on clearance!

• One package cooking cream (garlic flavor)
• splash of milk
• large package sliced mushrooms
• one small jar chopped pimentos
• one package of tofu, chopped
• salt, pepper and curry powder
• a little less than half a cup of grated mozzarella.  

The result was a thoroughly edible dinner, if I do say so myself (and I just did)

Strawberry Rhubarb Cake

   Despite my grand aspirations, this weekend was woefully wanting in motivation.  Case in point, the strawberries and rhubarb languishing in my fridge.  They were purchased last weekend in a hunger induced binge at the market.  They were bought with the intention of making a pie.  But pie is work, there's all that soft handling, the chilling the rolling, making sure it's the right size, etc.  Screw that, I'm a lazy hoar this weekend. So I went in search of something else to make.
   Enter the Strawberry Rhubarb Cake.  A google search found me this recipe.  Buuuut, true to form, I did not have quite the ingredients needed.  No oranges to zest, but some dried lemon zest.  No heavy cream, so I used skim milk plus an extra egg yolk.  Beastie (child number 1, 5 year old boy)  helped to grease the pan, a job he found most entertaining, and took 10 times longer than necessary.
  I'm sorry, I don't have any pics to share this time, my camera is missing and I'm too busy inhaling this cake (a la' mode with strawberry ice cream) to be bothered to look for it.