Plans for a great dinner!

I will be a little short on time tomorrow after work so I had to think of a something yummy but quick and easy for dinner.  With all the goodies I have preserved in my pantry it isn't hard.  So, I'm going to use some of my frozen egg noodles, canned chicken thighs, mushrooms, cream of mushroom soup, sour cream and Parmesan cheese.  While the noodles cook I'll take the liquid from the canned chicken thighs and mix it with the cream of chicken soup and a little sour cream and some mushrooms and Parmesan cheese and of course some herbs like parsley and parika. No measurements here, just what looks good. When the noodles are done I'll drain them and then put them in a casserole dish.  Then I'll gently turn the soup mixture into the noodles.  The heat from the noodles will loosen up the mixture and blend it in nicely.  Then I'll take the chicken thighs and place them on top of the noodles.  I'll pop that into the oven at about 350 until the thighs are hot and the noodle mixture bubbles.  When that happens I'll turn on the broiler for a couple minutes just to brown the top of the thighs (it looks nicer that way).  With some home canned green beans and corn bread (I'm making that today) we'll have a nice dinner quick and easy.  YUM.

4:00 am and I'm thinking about potatoes!

I woke up at 4:00 am and the first thing that came to my mind was how to organize my day so I can get some potatoes canned.  I have cleaning and some reorganizing to do around the house but I also have some potatoes I need to can.  What takes precedence?  The potatoes of course!  I seem to think of ways to work around canning projects often.  I'm not obsessed or addicted am I?  Well maybe I kind of am but at least it's a good obsession/addiction right?

So I'm going to can some potatoes today.  I'm going to add some herbs to them because it really makes them nice.  A little garlic powder and parsley will make them really nice to mash right out of the jar (drain them first).  Heat them up and add a little milk and butter and mash them.  Super yummy!  Or brown them by melting a little butter in a skillet, drain off the liquid and put them in the skillet to brown with a little chopped onion.  Again super yummy.

Or, use the browned potatoes and sprinkle them with some cheese and pop them in the oven for the cheese to melt over them. I use a cast iron skillet so I can go right from the stove top to the oven.  It's a great side dish for pork chops or meat loaf or lots of things.

Well now you can see why I think of ways to work around canning projects.  There are so many ways to use the things I can.  I love having the convenience and flexibility of having things as simple as potatoes on hand.