The Dinner Challenge: Day Three and Four

On Day Three I didn't cook any dinner for our dinner challenge since we had so much leftover Beef and Tomato Bake from Day Two's dinner. And then today's dinner was rather…shall we say…interesting?

You see I was out of rice for the Chicken Fried Rice recipe, so I had Jeff pick some up at the grocery store. Unfortunately he picked up the store brand, and let's just say I learned tonight that not all rice is created equal. Not by a long shot.

I started dinner a little after 4 o'clock by baking the chicken. By 4:50pm the meal was in the oven baking. I checked on it midway through as the recipe says, and then let it cook for another 45 minutes after that. At 6:20pm, when it should have been done, I checked on it, and the rice wasn't softening up at all! By this time I was getting a little neverous since we were supposed to leave for band practice at 6:40.

But I set the timer for another 10 minutes, checked again when the time went off, and discovered practically no change in the rice.

So on to plan B. We packed up the food, carried it on a wooden cutting board (it was still hot having come right out of the oven), and took it in the car with us to band practice. Since we practice at the church, I put the food in the oven, turned it on, and set the timer. I checked on it several times for the next hour, adding water when the water disappeared, but the rice stayed firm!

By 7:45pm (3 hours after I'd first put it in the oven!) I decided enough was enough. I was hungry. The kids were hungry. Even the band was hungry!

So I pulled it out of the oven and dished up the chicken and mushroom portion of the meal. Even the band ate their share! And I've gotta say that even though the rice didn't turn out right, the rest of the dish was super delish!

When we got home, we picked out the rest of the chicken and mushrooms and put them in the fridge for leftovers. There's still a bunch left after feeding our family and the members of the band! Not too shabby for a meal that was only half-baked.

Tomorrow my hubby is going to take me out on a date. I don't know where we're going yet, but I know I'm not fixing dinner tomorrow. So my next planned meal will be Saturday, and it'll be Mama Zesty's Famous Meatloaf. Meatloaf is one dish the whole family likes, so I'm looking forward to this new recipe (which I haven't actually seen yet. Zesty? Oh, Zesty! I'm waiting patiently for the promised recipe…).

One of the goals with this cooking challenge with Amanda is to help each of us develop a master menu plan by the end of June. With that end in mind, we'll each be hosting a Mr. Linky next Monday where you can link up any of your favorite dinner recipes. We'd love to add them to our menus!

You can also link up your breakfast recipes here and your lunch recipes here.