Potty preparation cooking

In preparation for our three day potty boot camp starting at midnight tonight, I decided to cook like a mad woman (like typical fall college football Saturday) Thursday night.  I have come to realize I am way more enthusiastic about cooking during the fall than any other time of year...possibly because of my love of doing nothing more than watching football ALL day during fall Saturdays.  And although I was born and raised a Big 10/Michigan fan, I am a SEC fan at heart.  And it is only recently that I have been around more Auburn fans than anything else and not only have found them to be the most relatable fans in the SEC for myself but also have found myself drinking the Kool Aid so to speak (orange Kool Aid that is) and feel like I should officially pledge my allegiance to the orange and blue this year.  Anyways...after all the boot camp talk...I digress...

The potty boot camp basically consists of staying in the house all weekend and doing nothing but be devoted 100% to your child's needs, which to someone with an infant seems elementary; You live and breathe that infant.  But a parent who has gotten accustomed to a toddler has also gotten accustomed to not having to watch their child every second of every day while they are doing house chores like laundry, cooking, cleaning, etc.  Well, that is non-existent to the potty training parent and therefore I decided it would be a good idea to make dinners for the entire weekend as to not take away from the potty time. 

So, I started the evening making my new favorite Wild Rice Casserole
1/2 cup onion chopped
1/2 cup carrots chopped
1/2 cup celery chopped
2 cloves garlic
2 envelopes microwave wild rice
3 cups grilled chicken chopped
4 tbsp butter
4 tbsp gluten free flour
2 cups chicken stock
2 cups shredded cheese
extra 1 cup cheese for topping

Saute veggies, add cooked rice and cooked chicken.  Set aside.

Melt butter.  Whisk flour for 1 min.  Whisk in chicken stock then cheese gradually.  Mix cheese sauce and veggie mixture.  Put in buttered casserole dish.  Top with cheese and cook at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 min. 

Next, I threw together a Mexican casserole

1 box cream cheese room temp
2 cups grilled chicken
1 can rotel, drained
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
teaspoon cumin
teaspoon garlic powder
teaspoon onion powder
teaspoon paprika
teaspoon chili powder
package tortillas
2 cups shredded cheese

mix together first 9 ingredients.  Add 1 cup cheese.  Butter casserole dish.  Layer tortillas in bottom of dish.  Spread 1/2 cream cheese mixture.  Layer more tortillas then rest of cream cheese mixture then last layer of tortillas then top with cheese.  Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 45 minutes.

Lastly, I just browned 1 lb ground beef and seasoned with taco seasoning (McCormick's or homemade taco seasoning).  Let cool and add to Ziploc bag.  Chop lettuce, tomatoes, green onions, and olives in separate bags then store in fridge with taco shells, cheese, and sour cream readily available. 

And still had time to make a chicken salad salad made with leftover chicken salad and wasabi arugula, topped with raspberry vinaigrette

And...made 3 different aqua frescas using fruit (in this case kiwi, watermelon, and raspberries) a little bit of sugar (approximately 1/2 cup), citrus of choice, mint for freshness, then fill with water for alcoholic (add rum or vodka) and non-alcoholic purposes (mostly alcoholic with the type of weekend I probably will have)

Lastly, for the Friday night before P-day so to speak I decided to do #64 on my 100 things to do in my 30s and learned to grill.  My mom was actually surprised that I had never done that before because she just "let me take over" like I had but I have always had someone willing to do it for me before.  I started easy...just corn on the cob, zucchini and squash, hot dogs, and sausages (Ragin Cajun) but guess it counts...

Now, I'm sirring on the couch, watching Season 4 of Breaking Bad and drinking a glass of wine.  Hopefully, my morning won't start at 5:45am like this morning but I'm sure there will be tons to come about my exciting pottying weekend...