Broccoli Chicken Casserole on a Productive Day

Broccoli Chicken Casserole I didn't have to work in the morning today (Thank Goodness!!) and I was going to sleep in this morning. But the stupid alarm clock woke me up early -- well, no, I'm the stupid one who forgot to set it off last night -- and I spent good 30 minutes in bed thinking about what I need to do today. Then I realized that it is the second Monday of the month today, which means it is the "big trash day" when we can throw away things like recyclable non-plastic trash (cans, bottles, cardboard boxes, books n newspapers, etc.) , old furniture and electronic wastes. The day comes only once a month, and since this is December, I would have to carry over big trash from 2008 to 2009 if I'd miss this chance today. So I jumped out of the bed and grabbed the plastic bags full of empty cans and bottles to bring them to the designated place. I tell you what-- I never like riding a bicycle before breakfast. But it was a kind of emergency situation and there was no other choice because we are supposed to take our trash to the designated place only between 6 am and 8 am. After the busy start of the day, I had breakfast, did my laundry, paid the rent (which I was supposed to do at the end of last month :P), went two supermarkets to look for a bigger garbage pail for the kitchen and picked nuts near someone's graveyard(!) for my Christmas wreath. Pretty productive so far, isn't it? Wait. That's not it. I have some more plans for the afternoon and evening, too. And this casserole was a quick and easy lunch for me today. It was quick because I used store-bought white sauce. Although I put some breadcrumbs in it, the casserole turned out rather runny and it was more like what we call "guratan (gratin)" here. Well, I don't know... What's the difference between gratin and casserole anyway? I thought gratin was runnier than casserole but I may be wrong; they may be just different names for the same dish? Anyway, now I'm stuffed with warm and cheesy food, and I'm ready to get some more things done before my work tonight. ;) Categories: Western-inspired

Eggplant Zucchini & Kabocha Pumpkin Casserole

Eggplant Zucchini and Kabocha Pumpkin Casserole This small kabocha is, again, from my parents’ veg. garden. My mom brought it with the tomatoes last weekend. With the eggplants and zucchini I had left from the other day, I, again, went for the quick and easy solution for leftover vegetables --- cheese casserole. It was so easy to make with store-bought pizza sauce. All I had to do was just slicing the vegetables and placing them in layers with tomato sauce and sliced cheese. (I added a little cream, too.) I was also very happy to use up the grated parmesan cheese that I had in the fridge for quite a while. The casserole was OK, but one thing I would do differently next time is the amount of pumpkin to use --- either keep it to the minimum or not use it at all. The pumpkin I got from mom was what we call “kuri-kabocha” here, which has very sweet, nutty flavor and chestnut-like texture, so it made the whole dish rather too sweet and heavy. It definitely killed the subtle sweetness of the zucchini. :(