We all know how bad I suck at cooking. I can follow the directions on the box and still screw up the "boiling water" part. My mom is a great cook (high five mom!) and my sister rocks it in the kitchen. Me, well, let's just ask all of my friends reading this blog how many times I have cooked them something? Raise your hand. Ok, no hands.
Since I am a true southern girl, one that by all accounts should know how to cook innately, I thought I would completely blindside the family with a recipe that could not go wrong: baked macaroni and cheese with chicken. Dave and the kids LOVE macaroni and cheese, even though they are used to that powder kind...and they LOVE McDonald's chicken nuggets...I am a GENIUS. For once in my entire life (how many years that amounts to is completely insignificant)--(plus a true southern lady does not discuss age)--I was actually pumped about getting out those brand spanking new pots we received when Dave and I got married almost 11 years ago.
Proud does not accurately describe the feeling of wearing an apron, slapping on oven mitts and gently removing the steaming hot cookware thingy that contained my baked macaroni and cheese with chicken and breadcrumbs (bonus!).
I divided up the dish with a flat fork utensil scooper and transferred it on the plates. HMS (Hungry-Man-Syndrome) had set in already so I just knew I would have clean plates in no time!
I placed the masterpieces on the placemats & the kids looked at me like I had just grown another head and asked them to only talk to the new head because the old head didn't know how to cook.
"THIS is dinner???"
"Why of course my little darlings, Mommy cooked! I know, I know, try to hold back those tears of joy at this very sight. To document this moment, I shall blog about it!"
"I AM NOT EATING THIS. WHAT IS ALL THIS BROWN DOT STUFF ALL OVER THE PLACE?"
"Breadcrumbs, munchkins. You know, little tiny pieces of bread sprinkled with love all over your baked macaroni and cheese with chicken dinner! Enjoy!"
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You know, I will take a commercial break here because in real life, dinnertime went south from that point. My dish did not go over well with the smaller boy Spetrinos (the big Spetrino boy loved it!) due to the bonus breadcrumbs. Who knew? No matter how I tried to spin it in a positive light, they were having none of it...until they were threatened with those sharp object things that go on the silverware drawer and the prospect of no Harris Teeter ice cream sandwich for dessert. They choked it down. Look at the utter delight on this kid's face after finishing Kathy Spetrino's Baked Macaroni & Cheese with Chicken and Breadcrumbs:
I am completely kidding about threatening my children with knives. They were kabob sticks.
