Happy Halloween

YESTERDAY, just before heading to the grocery store at 4:30, I decided I wanted chicken pot pie.

A little late in the game to make that sort of decision, perhaps. So I opted for a quick version of chicken and biscuits. Just as satisfying, though far less work.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Saute 8 ounces of sliced mushrooms in a few tablespoons of butter. Season with salt and pepper. Add 1 pound of chicken tenders. Cook until lightly browned. Add 1 cup of chicken broth, cover pan, and simmer until chicken is cooked through. Remove tenders. Stir 1 1/2 cups frozen mixed vegetables. Add 1 can condensed mushroom soup, 1 can of chicken gravy, and 12 ounces of whole milk. Stir well. Season with lots of pepper. Cover and bring to a simmer. Slice or shred chicken as desired and return to pan. Stir in 2 tablespoons of butter for added flavor or a bit of dried thyme if desired. Adjust seasonings. Heat through and keep warm.

Meanwhile, make your favorite biscuit dough or for ease, use a mix. Roll out 1/2 inch thick. Cut out 1 1/2 inch round biscuits.

Transfer chicken mixture to a buttered casserole. Top with biscuits placed around the edges. Brush biscuits with melted butter if desired.

Bake until biscuits are golden brown, about 15 to 18 minutes. Serve with a healthy appetite. An Argentinian Malbec might have seemed a strange accompaniment, but it all went down rather nicely.

There's always room at our table.

The sun is going down, the afternoon's writing nearly complete. I want a cup of tea before dinner, but what to brew? Madagascar Vanilla Red, Perfectly Pear White, Yerbe Mate Fresh Green Organic, Honey Vanilla Chamomile, White Chai, Peppermint?

Ah, there's the Red Rose.

I am something of a creature of habit.

not ready for frost on the pumpkin

The cold weather has snuck up on me. While I did put the electric blanket on the bed (as the heat somehow doesn't reach that corner of the second floor), as of yet I don't have the three cords of wood I'll need for the winter stowed in the basement. I can't reliably find matching socks in the morning, and I certainly can't be expected to face the chill without a pretty sweater dress. What's a person to do?

Pretend the garden is still flourishing. Pretend it's still sunny and warm.

So even though the tomatoes are coming from Georgia, and the eggplant has been trucked in as well, I'll be making a batch of caponata this weekend. The sweet and sour Sicilian side dish might not be the thing to set out along side a turkey pot pie, but it nestles fine with soups and panini sandwiches and makes a great topping for pasta, too.

Facing reality is highly overrated, don't you think?

Once More, With Feeling

So we lost our concentration when it came to blogging.

We could blame poor hand-eye coordination, or wardrobe malfunctions (what is appropriate blogging attire, after all?), but mostly it's a matter of sheer techno-incompetence that has had me at various times over the last months eager to take a sledgehammer to the computer screen.

I can operate any number of kitchen appliances blindfolded. I've driven tractors. I've held several positions of admittedly small importance in which, however, people of much greater importance relied on my commendable photocopying, scanning, document merging, and handling of toner cartridges. But I can't seem to work for more than an hour on my computer without pressing some misguided sequence of keys that freezes the whole shebang.

We'll try again, though blogging requires manipulation of a series of buttons and tabs, a number of which are a complete mystery to me. I'm sure one of them should be labeled, "Hey, Denise! Press here to ruin your afternoon."

Thank goodness for pen and paper.