Did you know today was Friday?

So the title is kind of obvious to all except me. Most of you know that I write my posts the night before, and well I went the entire day today thinking it was Wednesday. I feel like a complete dodo now because of an email I sent my sister.

My sister, Dana, is doing my very first guest post, and in coordinating when I would post her tidbit, we decided on Friday. Well because I went ALL day today thinking that it was Wednesday, I sent her an email asking her if she would mind if I posted her stuff tomorrow or Friday. DUH! Same day, way to go, Heather.


So anyways, on to my sister's entry!

[my insert] Hi my name is Dana and I have a blog called Delicious Little Streams of Consciousness, but as that would not fit on Heather's blog menu, she shortened it to: Dear Food, I love you. I have two dogs babies, a house and a hubby, and we all live happily ever after in Nashville. I'm just a little cheeky. :) [/my insert]

When Heather asked me if I wanted to do a guest recipe entry for her blog, my first thought was, “Hecks yeah!” because Heather’s blog is awesome, and I’m not just saying that because I’m her sister.  The second thought was, “What am I going to make?”.  Well, knowing that a lot of you are moms, I decided there were a few attributes that my meal should absolutely have: Quick, easy, and affordable.  Healthy would probably be god too.  Well, I’ve done you one better.  How about all of that in one dish?  As Heather says, onto the show!

This recipe comes from my go-to source for all recipes: Taste of Home.  More specifically, www.tasteofhome.com , from which I get a daily recipe in my email.  You can sign up at the website.  Now would also be a good time to introduce the other big source of help for when I cook.  That would be the pair of little, furry helpers/hoovers that clean up after me. I am a very messy cook.  I don’t know why I can’t seem to make anything without spilling something, but I’m gonna go ahead and blame it on my genes here.  Badger and Bruin are very good, eager little helpers.  Anyhoo, so our dish of the day is Chicken Asparagus Stroganoff.  Yes, I know stroganoff is traditionally made with beef, but we live in America.  If we can deep fry Oreos, we can tweak a stroganoff recipe to have chicken instead of beef.  That wasn’t the only alteration that took place here anyhow.  Here’s the original recipe.

Chicken Asparagus Stroganoff

Prep Time: 10 minutes, Cook Time: 30 Minutes, Serves 4

1 can (10-3/4 oz) condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup sour cream

2 cup cooked sliced asparagus

1 cup diced cooked chicken

1/4 tsp dried rosemary, crushed

1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Hot cooked noodles or rice

Combine the soup, milk and sour cream. Pour half into a greased 1-qt. baking dish; top with the asparagus, chicken and rosemary. Pour remaining soup over top. Sprinkle with cheese.

 Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 30 minutes or until heated through. Serve with noodles or rice. Yield: 4 servings.

Wait…original recipe?  Other alterations?  What do you mean?  See, there’s a fine line between lazy and incredibly creative.  I like to think I walk that line everyday.  This day was no different.  First thing’s first, the chicken.  I keep frozen chicken breast on hand at all times, but do you know what else I had?  Canned chicken and, oh look, there’s about a cup in one can.  Genius!  


Also, never underestimate the usefulness of your various kitchen utensils and tools.  I love asparagus, but I don’t always love cooking it.  I don’t steam mine, I bake/broil it.  I think it creates a better flavor, but I usually end up with burned tops.  Nobody likes that.  Well, last night when I was cooking this I realized that covering up the tops might protect them a little bit, so I bust out a sheet of aluminum foil and gave the asparagus a little shade, so to speak. 

After that was the issue of slicing all those hot, skinny stalks.  Yeah, we can think of a way to make this easier on ourselves.  Tongs!  I took about five stalks at a time and held them together in my spring loaded tongs so they all bunched together.  Then I just sliced, bunched, sliced, and bunched all the way down. Made things go a lot faster.  


Finally, after following the rest of the directions—I chose 8 ounces of egg noodles to go with it because they’re traditional for stroganoff, cheap, and really quick—voila! My delicious dinner was served.

I hope you enjoyed this little bit of reading, but, even more so, I hope you’ll be able to share this yummy recipe with all your loved ones.  Thanks for reading!


I hope you guys enjoyed my sister's guest post. As you can tell we both really enjoy cooking, trying new things, and then dishing about them to each other. So I hope that you will enjoy this recipe. I can't wait to try it. :)

Have a great weekend and enjoy your Friday!