New Recipe: Chicken Tetrazzini

Yesterday Nate came home after a very long week (for both of us) away on business. I figured that he would probably be tired of eating out so I wanted to make him something yummy for dinner. I got this Chicken Tetrazzini recipe from my friend Henri - who was also the provider of the yummy Pork Tenderloin recipe. She's made it a few times for our work luncheons and it's always so good, I figured Husband would like it too. And I was right. He had two big helpings and then I walked into the kitchen to catch him eating straight from the casserole dish with a fork. I guess I'll be making this one again.

I altered the recipe slightly so I'll give you the original and put my alterations in my notes/suggestions.

Chicken Tetrazzini

1 box (7 oz.) thin spaghetti

1 jar (6 oz.) sliced mushrooms, drained

1 large onion, diced

1/2 cup butter or margarine

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked

2 (10 oz.) cans cream of chicken soup

2 cups sour cream

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Break spaghetti into 1-inch to 2-inch pieces. Cook in salted water until tender. Drain. Saute mushrooms and onions in butter. Cut chicken into 1 to 2 inch pieces. Combine chicken with spaghetti, mushrooms, onions, soup and sour cream. Stir and turn into a buttered dish (2 quart casserole dish). Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 40 minutes. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Sounds good, doesn't it? It was. The best thing was that I was able to put it all together Thursday night (thank you Grant for behaving) and refrigerate it over night. All I had to do when I got home last night was put it in the oven. 



Cooked spaghetti



Pulled rotisserie chicken

Mixing everything together



Grant and Mortimer watching Mommy cook.



Ready to go in the fridge for the night!

 

Cooking the mushrooms for Husband



Yum! Ready to eat.

 

You can't have pasta without garlic bread! Yes, I use the frozen kind. Don't judge.



Notes/Suggestions:

• I use the Ronzoni Smart Taste pasta whenever I can find it. The box of thin spaghetti was 14.75 oz. so I only cooked half. It wasn't enough so I ended up cooking the rest of the box and used almost all of it. So I would suggest cooking the whole box and adding it little by little when you mix up the sauce. I think I used about 3/4 of the pasta that I cooked.
• I once again used rotisserie chicken in place of the cooked chicken breasts. I will say it again: I love, love, love rotisserie chicken. SO convenient and tasty.
• I don't like mushrooms and I used onion powder in place of the onions. That allowed me to leave out ALL the butter in the recipe. I cooked the mushrooms on the side for Nate to add to his meal because he loves them so that was the only butter used in the recipe. I did add a little bit of milk when I mixed up the ingredients to thin out the sauce.
• I used reduced fat sour cream (Henri suggested that because she does it too). One 16 ounce container of sour cream is 2 cups. You don't need to bust out the measuring cup.
• This a great recipe to make up ahead of time but you don't have to. It's also a great recipe to make if you are bringing a meal to a friend/family (new baby, illness, etc.).
• I spell rotisserie wrong every time I type it. Thank you spell check.

Caution: Slippery When Wet!

Bath time. Two words have never made two parents run screaming from the room like those to words (except maybe "It's twins"?). I will admit to liking bath time more than I used to and so does Grant. And sometimes I may even call it fun. But most of the time it is a job and a half. All the parenting magazines and websites and what-not will tell you to "relax, go slow, and enjoy this time with baby". And to them I say Ha!

Once upon a time, during the rotting belly button phase, Grant used to just lay there and scream during bath time. It had to be a sponge bath because we couldn't get his belly button (yuck!) wet. He was cold, we were nervous...good times.




This wasn't his first bath, but it was that first week.



Wait for it...



There it is! That's what bath time looked like for while.

So I thought things would improve after his belly button...*ahem*...fell off. Actually, it basically tore off most of the way one day by accident and in a moment of absolute panic I just stuck it back on there quick. Husband was giving me a "girls night out" that night and I was just going to let him think he did it. I had planned, right down to my "OMG! What'd you do?" But then I confessed. Anyway! Things did improve and Grant definitely hated bath time less.



So tiny in the little newborn sling.



BABY BUTT!!!




I love to cuddle him after his bath! He just smells so good.


Once he started trying to roll out of the newborn sling I figured it was time to just use the tub. That's when things get tricky. A soapy, squirmy baby is not easy to bathe! And it can be a little scary. It's also not easy to bathe them...when they splash all the water out of the tub. Grant's new thing is to hold on to the sides of the tub and kick his legs as hard as he can.

Ha!

 

Action shot by Husband

But it definitely seems like he's having fun.

And now that he's sitting up more, I guess that means we'll have to break out the inflatable duck tub. Husband will be very excited about that. Until he realized that he's the one who's got to blow it up.

Playground time!

Sunday was such a pretty day and I needed to get out so Grant and I took a walk around White Deer Park and Lake Benson Park (they're connected - fun!) in Garner. I decided to try Grant in just the stroller instead of using the carrier/car seat too. For the most part, he loved it. Until I rounded a corner and the sun was right in his face. He ended up with a blanket clipped over the front of the stroller for most of the ride. What great scenery! I didn't hear any complaints though.

While walking through the Lake Benson Park part of the trail I noticed some empty baby swings. And I just happened to have a baby with me. So I stuck him in the swing and wedged his monkey blanket behind him for support. HE LOVED IT! I hope it's nice this weekend so we can go back to play some more and, hopefully, get some better pictures. I may have to take him down the slide. I solemly swear not to enjoy that at all.



It's not a great picture because I took it with my phone and it was pretty sunny. But it was his first time in a big boy swing! How was I not going to take a picture?



New Recipe: Lasagna Rolls

Last night I decided to try something different making this my first new recipe of February. Yay me! This is a fun version of lasagna. The recipe can be found HERE courtesy of Holly at Life as a Lofthouse. It was so yummy! I'm really glad I decided to try it. I forgot to take pictures of my steps, but Holly has great ones in her post. Here is my finished product:

Notes/Suggestions:

• I wouldn't say this is an easy weeknight meal. If you want to attempt it after you get home from work, more power to you. Not me though. I'm glad I saved it for a weekend night.
• The recipe can easily be doubled for a larger family/crowd.
• In place of the 2 chicken breasts I just used chicken pulled from a rotisserire chicken. It's my favorite recipe shortcut.
• I replaced the chive & onion cream cheese with plain and I left out the basil. I'm not a fan of many flavored cream cheeses and I think basil is gross.
• I used extra cheese...SUPRISE!

Songs Without Words

People always tell the mom-to-be to “just wait until [baby] gets into the noisy toys!” I heard that a lot when I was pregnant. For most of the past 5 months I’ve dealt with quite a few toys that make noise and, if I’m being honest, I kind of love them. They entertain Grant which keeps him happy and smiley…and they’re kind of fun for me too . Do those people who warn you of the noise-makers love the sound of a crying child? Because when Grant is screaming like a madman I can sometimes put him in his jumpy and he is instantly distracted by all the entertainment (perhaps that’s why they call it a stationary entertainer?).

As I said, Grant has a lot of noise making toys. Our living room is over-run with them. Many, but not all, are Fisher Price. And I gotta say, I’m a fan of some Fisher Price stuff. He has one toy that his Grandma gave him that plays 5 songs – all of which I know the words to and sing them to him shamelessly – and it has a big mirror and lights. Whoa. Music AND lights? He looks at this thing like he’s won the lottery. Although, to a baby, I suppose that is winning the lottery. Throw in a fresh diaper and a full bottle of warm formula and life is good.

But my two personal favorites are his jumpy and his baby gym (both can be seen in my 5 month post). Both are made by Fisher Price and both play music. And not unpleasant music. Husband makes fun of me because with the baby gym I actually have a favorite song (he forgets that I listened to them all day for weeks on maternity leave). The music doesn’t have words. So how is it that I always get them stuck in my head? How do you get songs stuck in your head that have no words? I frequently get songs from other toys stuck in my head. I’m sure the people in my office are ready to throw a stapler at me if they hear “Head Shoulders Knees and Toes” one more time. Or if I break into “If You’re Happy and You Know It” again when it’s too quiet. I guess before now I just never realized that you could get a song stuck in your head when it didn’t have words. Weird.