Cooking that wont get you killed: Something...

That is it!  I have lost all of my cooking mojo!  After cooking and cooking and cooking (because I love it so much) I have pretty much burnt myself out on the entire act of cheffery....

I find myself lately staggering into the kitchen...looking at the clock...and sighing heavily that it is actually "already" time to cook dinner.  Call it cooking burn out or "tired of doing the same EFFING thing day in and day out".  Either way....I am sure everyone has been there.

Today while preparing dinner I found myself going off into full "stare into space while I daydream"...daydream.  It may be that a change in routine is needed; however until that is possible I will have to work with whats provided.  There are a few things that I like to do when I've hit the chef blues:

• Ask someone else to take it on for the night.
• Search for new ideas and recipes.
• Ask everyone in the house what they have been craving.
• Watch "Julie & Julia" in my jammies while my children slurp sketti-os from the can and I eat ice cream straight from the carton.

Of course three days of this usually ends in me getting up and forcing myself to feed the kids a well balanced meal again.  I promise these things don't happen often so please refrain from lecturing me about sodium content of the Chef's many gourmet meals in a can because I am already aware.  The point is when I have these days and call a "fend for yourself night" I really don't give two shits if my kids eat cookies for dinner as long as they are happy, enjoying their night, and allow me to watch my movie in peace.

The rest of the year Mom is usually on it!  Every night is exactly the same schedule during the weekdays because my kids tend to get very grumpy when there is no schedule.  They get off of the bus and home from work and the first question while grabbing a snack because they are fed "NOTHING" in school all day is, "What's for dinner?"

My typical response is "Something", said with a smile of course!  I say something because if I don't they will come picking through my pots looking for a "Taste" of this and that and for those of you who do not understand the mind of a southern cook...you do NOT lift the lid on Momma's pot.  It's rude and when I was a child it would get-you-slapped!

Tonight's something just so happens to be a family favorite.  This recipe was created by me using two awesome recipes combined - Poppy Seed Chicken and Chicken Pot Pie.

Creamy Chicken Casserole  

Serves: 6

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

4 Boneless and skinless chicken breasts

1 can of cream of mushroom soup

1 can of cream of chicken soup

1/4 cup of chicken broth

1/2  cup of sour cream

2 cups of frozen mixed veggies

1 sleeve of Ritz crackers

1/2 stick of melted butter

2 tsp poppy seeds

Brown chicken breasts until they are completely cooked inside and out and then cut them into bite-sized cubes.  In a casserole dish combine cream of soups  sour cream, and chicken broth - mixing well with each addition.  Once the liquid ingredients are mixed well stir in veggies and chicken, crush the crackers, sprinkle them on top of the mixture, and then drizzle melted butter on top of the crackers so they brown.  Once all of the steps are complete sprinkle poppy seeds on top and bake for 30 minutes.  If the recipe is doubled the cook time will vary.

Enjoy!