Cooking With What You Have

Rob and I were pretty proud of ourselves tonight when it came to making dinner.  We made dinner using only what we could find around the house.  The menu planning was all Rob- he is really good at figuring out what to make with what we already have.  I have a sinus infection and I wasn't planning on assisting with any of it.  So Rob decided to make cornbread muffins, glazed carrots, mashed potatoes and sort of a chicken a la king dish that he was going to use up a bunch of our turkey lunchmeat with instead of chicken.  When he called me out to help, he already had the cornbread made, the carrots were boiling and so were the potatoes.  I am the mashed potato queen though so he asked me if I could check if they were done and finish them up.  He also had the cream cheese and butter sitting out so that I could make them Pioneer Woman fatty-fat-fat style.  Don't get me wrong- they are the most delicious mashed potatoes I have ever had.  I just usually only make them that way for Thanksgiving.  As I was taking care of the potatoes, I watched Rob starting to make the gravy for the turkey a la king.  And I got concerned.  Making a roux or gravy is about one of the hardest things to make in the kitchen and he was going about it all wrong.  I am no expert but I have had some success with making a roux before (thanks mom and dad for the lesson!) so I jumped in and took over.  I also told him he did not have "gravy clearance" which we both laughed really hard about.  He was just dumping the flour right into the melted butter and onions and was about to add the broth before I stopped him.  The flour and butter have to be stirred constantly and cooked together for quite a while to make sure you get the gritty, raw flour taste out of there.  Anyhow, it turned out really good and I think we will have to add that recipe into the mix for future meals.  Like Rob said, "It's like really, really good cafeteria food."  I got a picture of what was left of it.



Not that I am enjoying the sinus infection at all, but it is kind of nice to have Rob take over the menu planning for a while- he does such a great job!