Desperate Chicken Casserole

I've had a bit of a problem planning dinners this week. See, I thought I was going to be paid on Monday, and planned my groceries accordingly. 6:00 p.m. came (the time we inexplicably receive our mail) and went, with no check. So we had to scrounge Monday for dinner, no big deal. Then Tuesday came and went, and today, I still hadn't received my check. Yesterday Hubby ran to Costco and got me a Costco-sized bag of those frozen grilled chicken strips. I absolutely love those. You can throw them into virtually any dish with no prep beyond warming! I pulled together my fantastic BBQ Chicken pizza.

Tonight was tricky. I had no idea what to make for dinner. We have bits and pieces of a lot of things, but nothing that could easily be thrown together to make a healthy, satisfying dinner for 5. I spent 30 minutes recipe searching for what few ingredients I had on hand. Finally, I decided to take a few variations of several recipes and add my own twists. The result... fantastic. It received rave reviews from the four speaking family members and one enthusiastic baby sign for "more please."

I wish I had taken pictures of the meal, but I totally spaced it. I'm already looking forward to what little leftovers remain. Here's the recipe.

Desperate Chicken Casserole
1 lb. Egg noodles
8 oz. frozen grilled chicken strips
1 large can whole tomatoes
4-5 slices bacon
1½ cups mozzarella.
2 garlic cloves
1 t. basil
1 t. oregano
1 t. garlic powder

1. Bring pot of water to a boil. Salt water and add egg noodles.
2. 2. Heat grilled chicken strips on grill pan or griddle.
3. Peel garlic cloves and mash with a knife. Cook garlic with bacon until bacon is crisp. Remove bacon, and cut into bit sized pieces. Toss garlic cloves.
4. Dice whole tomatoes into bite-sized pieces and add to frying pan. Scrap bacon bits off bottom of frying pan. Add basil, oregano, and garlic powder and stir. Cook until heated through.
5. Preheat broiler. Drain egg noodles when al dente. Pour into bottom of casserole dish. Pour tomatoes onto noodles. Top with chicken and bacon. Add liberal amounts of mozzarella and broil for 3 minutes. Serve immediately.

Is it professional to want to bite someone's head off?

Today wasn't a great day at work. But my story starts yesterday, when a co-worker called in sick to work. Long boring story short, no one ever went in to photograph the babies. And despite Hubby's attempts late into the night, my car simply refused to start. Even though it lives in the garage, it freezes over, so Hubby tried everything he could to warm the garage up to the point of thawing. I swear, my car is such a baby. My sister gave me a ride to work this morning which was nice, but figuring out transportation issues always makes me crabby. And for whatever reason, I was EXHAUSTED this morning. Had I not had work, it would have been a sleep-on-the-couch-while-Sunshine-watches-Baby-Einstein kind of day.

So by the time I got to work today, I was ready to go home. I was, of course, greeted by a large stack of requests for babies being photographed, since no one came yesterday. I got half-jokingly chewed out by one nurse, and seriously chewed out by another nurse. I really like both of these women, and I love that they care enough for their patients that they take issue with the fact that some babies weren't photographed. I dealt with it extremely professionally, even when I had to deal with yet another nurse. I did everything I could to make them happy, as we contract with the hospital and making the nurses unhappy is a death sentence.

My job, by nature, involves a lot of waiting. Sometimes Mom isn't ready for pictures, sometimes baby is hungry or getting tests done or jaundiced or just circumcised or who-knows-what-else. It get all that. However, by the end of this extremely long day, when I had to wait for a Grandma who is "almost here with the outfit" for an hour, and stuck with virtually nothing else to do but wait... well, that just presses my buttons. Especially when the mother doesn't even order the pictures! And then, as I'm transferring the pictures I've taken via the Internet, a nurse approaches me and asks if I gotten such and such rooms before they were discharged (which I never saw the request form for)... I found it really REALLY hard to be professional. I managed, but just barely. I had completely lost the desire to pacify this nurse. Sorry, they had left. Sorry, I didn't see the form. Sorry, but I don't really care anymore.

Because you know what? The babies I photograph are cute and all, but I have something even better at home. Wouldn't you be eager to rush home to a face like this?

That's what I thought.