Regular Me and Chicken Spaghetti

Every six months or so I suffer from an identity crisis.  Just when I think I'm feeling comfortable staying at home with my children, I get that itch to seek employment; to do something slightly more incredible with my life than cooking, cleaning, laundry, shuttling people around, and bottom-wiping.  It can be depressing.  Now I know that raising kids is an incredible job, but I can't help but feel that I'm not living up to my own expectations.  Yes, I know too...enjoy them when they are little, and I do.  But.......

Yet, I really have no direction at this point.  Some days I want to go back to teaching.  This seems unlikely with the current teacher layoffs in our county. Some days I think I'll get my masters. But in what?  I love to read, so maybe library science.  I just have this fear that I'd spend all that money and not be able to find a job near my home. This kind of wallowing can go on and on. Luckily, I married a very patient man.  

What pulled me out of it this time was a conversation I had with my three year old son yesterday.  It went something like this:

Charlie in his favorite batman t-shirt and black "batman" socks

Me in my PJ top, robe, and blue jeans 

Me: There's my batman!

Charlie: I'm NOT batman!

Me: There's my batboy?!

Charlie: I'm NOT batboy!  I'm Charlie! I'm REGULAR Charlie!  (sounds like rehyoular Charwee)

Well if he's okay with being regular Charlie then I should be okay being regular Emily. Right? Not professional Emily.  Not extra educated Emily. Just regular Emily.  It's okay to just be regular. There's a certain peace in accepting that.  (Isn't funny how children can be the best life coaches?)

Which leads me to......Chicken Spaghetti.  Just regular chicken spaghetti.  It isn't too fancy.  It isn't too hard.  But it IS rather good and comforting and filling.

I followed Ree Drummond's recipe from The Pioneer Woman Cooks pretty closely.  I can't seem to ever follow a recipe exactly...part of a rebellious nature perhaps.  Here is the link to her recipe: Chicken Spaghetti

Here is what I did differently:

Instead of cut-up fryer chicken, I cooked a whole chicken because it was cheaper to do this even when buying humanely treated. 

1. Rough cut 2 onions, 3 stalks celery, and 2 carrots.

2. Rinse chicken and remove gibblet bag.

3. Place chicken in the pot and cover with vegetables, about 10 peppercorns, and a dash or two of salt.

3. Cover all with water.

4. Bring to a boil.  Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 2-3 hours.

5. Remove chicken.  Remove and discard vegetables and pepper.

Follow Ree's recipe from here.

This made a very large casserole.  It could easily be made ahead and popped into the oven later.

Mitford Series Week 1: Puny's Chicken and Dumplings

Warning: this is not a quick recipe.  You will need to be home for several hours for this one.  Everything is fresh and from scratch.  No pre-cooked chicken, pre-made broth...no shortcuts please.  The work is well worth it I guarantee you.  

You will need to start the chicken stock first.  All the vegetables are rough chopped.

Puny's Chicken Stock

(from Jan Karon's Mitford Cookbook 2004, pg 137)

1 (3-4 lb) chicken, rinsed and giblets removed (the plastic bag in the cavity of the chicken)

2 large onions, quartered

2 large carrots, sliced thick

3 stalks celery, sliced thick

10 black peppercorns

2 teaspoons salt

3 sprigs fresh parsley

4 quarts cold water

In a large pot, combine all ingredients, adding water last.  Bring to a rolling boil. Cover the pot, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 2-3 hours.  Remove chicken.  Strain and discard the vegetables.

Puny's Chicken and Dumplings 

2 cups self-rising flour (more for rolling out dumplings)

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper

1/2 tsp sugar

1/3 cup shortening

3/4 cup buttermilk

4 1/2 cups Puny's Chicken Stock

3 TBSP unsalted butter

4 cups cooked chicken meat (from the chicken stock)

1 cup milk

1.  Combine flour, salt, pepper, and sugar in a large bowl.

2.  Cut in shortening with a pastry blender until coarse crumb consistency 

3.  Add buttermilk and stir with fork just until dough forms.

4.  Roll out pastry on a lightly floured surface (put a sheet of wax paper down for easy clean-up) to 1/8 in thick and cut into 1 inch squares.

5.  Bring the 4 1/2 cups of stock to a rolling boil in the large pot and drop dumplings in one at a time so that they don't stick, stirring gently occasionally.

6.  Put chicken meat on top of dumplings and pour the milk over all.

7.  Cover, reduce heat to med. low, and simmer for 20 min.  Do not open the cover.

8.  Add more milk, if it's too dry and season with salt and pepper if needed. 

I served my on top of homemade mashed potatoes.  

For more information about the Mitford books or how to purchase them please visit:

http://www.mitfordbooks.com/

Kids in the Kitchen

I want my boys to be great husbands someday.  Part of this training takes place in the kitchen as they are already learning how to prepare some simple meals.  This Chicken Pot Pie recipe is perfect for preschoolers.  It is also a meal that I can keep on hand without worrying about spoilage.  Since I did not make it to the store today, pot pie is on the menu.  

The Ingredients

Prepared diced chicken

1 can mixed vegetables

1 box rolled dough

1 can cream of chicken soup

 

1.  Dump chicken, vegetables, and soup in bowl.

2.  Mix it.

3. Taste it.  (Optional)

4.  Place pie crust in pie and pour in the mixture.

 

5. Put on the top crust.  Fold and pinch the two crusts together.

6.  Fork it in the center and around the sides.

7.  Bake 375 for approx 35 min.

I love my pie shield!  If you don't have one, use aluminum foil.