Gardner Webb's basketball team has had a really long away schedule playing at Elon in Burlington, then flying to Oklahoma to play OU and then on to Phoenix to play Arizona State. We drove to the Elon game loaded with a trailer full of Christmas Trees to deliver to Will and Tommy for a charity project. We didn't go to Oklahoma or Arizona, but Pleasant City Grill found the Oklahoma game on Direct TV so we enjoyed watching it there. The Bulldogs have had some tough games and tough losses but Jay said that being in Oklahoma and then getting to spend some time in Phoenix was a great experience.
Both Jay and David came home on Sunday night for a little R and R before heading back to school for exam week. I made comfort food - homemade biscuits, pork tenderloin, baked potatoes and Mama's homecanned green beans. Dingo and Mr. Cat and a warm fireplace provided comfort as well.
It's been really cold and snuggling in front of the fireplace is a favorite winter past time. Mama and Daddy love a fireplace too and light a fire nearly every day in Lattimore. When they built the current Lattimore house, Mama went to the library and checked out books about fireplaces. She researched the best designs for the best draw and then designed the fireplace for their house. When they built the cabin, she designed that one too. Both fireplaces are beautiful, put out a lot of heat and draw perfectly. Mama keeps a very appropriate book by her fireplace called "Sitting by my Laughing Fire".
Since it's been so cold, I wanted to take something warm to the guys at Santa's Finest Christmas Trees. These guys come to Shelby every year to sell trees and they are so sweet and helpful when it's time to pick out our tree. I joked with them that they have probably saved our marriage because when it comes to a Christmas tree I am pretty particular. We used to go up to the mountains to cut a tree and bring it home. Then David would get out a chain saw, saw off the lower limbs and put it in a tree stand. On a couple of occasions this was pretty nerve wracking. For both of us. Now we take our tree stand to Santa's Finest where they have a tree shaker and all of the right tools to get it straight and securely into the stand. In about ten minutes. Without any stress. So you can understand why I want to take them something warm to eat.
The night we picked out our tree, we took Homemade Vegetable Beef Soup and Hot Cornbread. To make this soup, I put stew beef into a crockpot with salt, pepper and maybe some other spices and leave it in there for 7-8 hours. Crockpots are wonderful. Then I make Cowboy Soup (October 6, 2010 post) and add the cooked stew beef. One of Santa's Finest took a bite of the soup and he paid the highest of all compliments. He said, "This tastes just like my mama's".
So we got our tree home and David IV helped decorate it before he left for exams. We use both white and multicolored lights and we have various shapes and sizes on there. There is no theme to our tree, but just a mixture of all kinds of things. There are ornaments we have bought on trips, ornaments that were gifts, ornaments the boys made over the years and even a few that we found after the boys collected trees for the New Year's eve bonfire. Every ornament on the tree is a trip down memory lane.
So, when we finished the tree it was so pretty that I wanted to take Santa's Finest another warm meal to let them know how much we appreciate them. The weather was about 15 degrees so I made a huge pot of Chicken and Rice Soup and took it on over to the christmas tree lot.
Then I came home and had one of my all time favorite meals - Chicken Rice and Gravy on Toast. I think this dish started out as a way for Mama to use up leftover chicken and rice. Sometimes she served it to us for breakfast. I don't know if anyone else ever eats chicken and rice for breakfast, but it is great. It's great for lunch too and always good on a cold winter's night.
Chicken Rice and Gravy on Toast
Chicken was on sale so I cooked about 8 breasts in the crockpot. I added celery, onion, salt, pepper, garlic, parsley, celery seed and some chicken broth and cooked on low all day while I was working and running errands. Gotta love a crockpot. Then I removed three breasts and shred with two forks like Susan taught me. I saved the rest of the chicken for another meal.
In another pot, cook about 6 servings of rice. You may not use all of the rice.
For gravy, put 1/2 stick butter and about 3 tablespoons of flour into a pan and cook until the flour is slightly brown. Then add broth a cup at a time and whisk. I probably used 2-3 cups of broth to make the gravy.
Mix chicken, a few cups of rice and gravy together and add more broth if you want it more soupy. I usually add rice and broth until I get it the consistency that I want. You can always add more but you can't add less.
When ready to eat, toast several slices of loaf bread. Put toast on a plate and ladle your desired amount of chicken, rice and gravy on top. Then curl up in front of a fireplace and take a long winter's nap.
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