a successful kitchen experiment

after 7 years of marriage, one might think i'd have the cooking thing down pat. ha! while i worked full time, i got away with using that as an excuse not to try new things. my other excuse is hubby. he's from the cheese state, yet only eats it on pizza. he rarely munches on it ads a snack, unless it's meister's garlic dill cheddar. my sil and i discovered early in our marriages that the cardinal sin of making grilled cheese is using valveeta or kraft processed slices. if cheese is necessary in a recipe, only the real thing will do.

he doesn't like mayo-based things either. and he's finicky about veggies. they must be masked by other flavors, ie marinade, lots of salt, pepper, garlic. but no rich casseroles for him, no siree. he scoffs at his mom's chicken tetrazini that the rest of us love. on a good day he'll taste it.

so i've spent a few years making the same old things over and over and over and over again. something began to change about 2 years ago. he began eating green bean casserole. you know, the kind on the back of the french fried onion jar. but wait, cream of mushroom soup is usually something on his "i don't touch" list. ha... he's coming around.

so i tried something "different" yesterday. i made chicken green bean casserole in a crock pot. i threw in a couple of chicken breasts, a can of c.o.m. soup, 2 fresh garlic cloves (crushed with my handy-dandy pc garlic press), a bunch of pepper, and salt. i added a cup of milk and a cup of H2O, but later realized it was too much liquid so i added a little flour to thicken the sauce. about an hour before hubby got home from work, i dumped in a drained can of green beans, and about 1/2 c. french fried onions. i saved another 1/2 c for the end, when i nuked, i mean mic'd them for a minute so they were nice and crispy. then i cooked up some egg noodles tossed in butter, and we were good to go.

he ate a good sized portion! no seconds, but that's ok because he even ate some of the green beans. after baby bear finished her bottle, she boycotted her cheerios and ate some of the noodles and green beans, too.