Sunday’s Story

I woke up to a cool, crisp, sunny fall day on Sunday. I grabbed a cup of coffee and then went back to bed to watch the news shows.

When I got hungry. I went and fried up some pork sausage patties and baked a roll of Pillsbury Grands (southern style) biscuits. I put the two together and ate a couple of sausage biscuits for breakfast.

Note to self: Next time use regular biscuits. It took one and a half sausage patties to cover the bigger biscuit.

I made three sandwiches and put them in individual baggies for next week’s breakfasts. The two remaining biscuits were left out to harden.

When I finally shaved, showered and got dressed, I went out back to trim back a bush that had grown a bit crazy. When I opened the shed to get the loppers, I remembered I wanted to run the tractor. So, I got a 100-foot extension cord and the battery charger and hooked it up.

I got the loppers and trimmed the bush way back.

Sidebar: I checked the rain gauge before bringing it inside for the winter. I got just under a half-inch of rain on Saturday. We need more rain!!!

Back inside, I went back to working on the Birwood cabinet doors. Now that Vicky's blessed the sample, I'm washing all the doors and drawers (except for the original uppers) with the deglosser. The original uppers still need more stripping.

Not sure what's in the deglosser, but you have to wear gloves and the whole house stinks. I set each one up to dry and put their tag above them. God help me if I forget where they go!!!

Then I went back to the shed and fired up the tractor. I drove it around the yard a couple of times to let the parts get moving and then parked it for the winter.

That got me thinking, so I went in the garage and started the push mower and let that run for a bit. Then I fired up the Big Thumper. It felt good to hear it run and I wondered why in the hell I hadn’t driven it more this summer.

I shut up the garage and went in to make my Sunday dinner. First I cut two acorn squash in half and dug out the seeds. I put a pat of butter, some fresh thyme sprigs, and a sprig of rosemary in each cavity. Then I baked them in the oven for an hour.

Sidebar: Only one of these will be used for today’s dinner. I’m just prepping them for a weekday dinner.

Next I got the chicken ready to roast. I combined minced fresh rosemary with softened butter. I rinsed the whole chicken after discarding the giblets (I know, I know. But I got a long way to go and a short time to get there!) I patted it dry and then salted the cavity. I worked my fingers under the skin and then slid in my herb butter. I rubbed the rest of the butter over all the rest of the bird. Then I seasoned it all with Kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper.

I lined the roasting pan with aluminum foil and put tin two carrots, two stalks of celery and an onion, all unpeeled and rough chopped. That was in case I felt inspired to make gravy later. I cut a lemon in half and stuck it up the bird’s butt. Then I put it on the rack, breast down, and stuck it in a 400 degree preheated oven. I set the timer for 30 minutes.

Then I cut up the too-hard garlic toast (and the last two biscuits) into roughly one-inch cubes. I put them in a big bowl.

I melted butter in my large skillet over medium-high heat. I added a pound of mixed mushrooms (I used crimini, white and stemmed shiitakes), 1 1/2 cups of diced onion, 1 ½ cups of finely sliced celery, and one cup of finely chopped green bell pepper. I sautéed them until they were soft and juices have evaporated, (about 15 minutes). Then I added the sautéed vegetables and 1/3 cup of fresh chopped flat leaf parsley to bread cubes.

I whisked 3 1/2 cups of heavy cream, eight large eggs, salt, and ground pepper in another large bowl. I poured the custard into bread and vegetables and mixed thoroughly. I transferred the stuffing to a buttered casserole dish. I sprinkled 1/3 cup of grated Parmesan cheese over the top and stuck the dish in the oven when the timer went off.

I turned the chicken over (breast side up, now) and set the timer for another 30 minutes.

When the timer went off again, I checked the chicken. I wanted the skin a bit more crisp, so I put it back in for yet another 15 minutes.

Finally, everything was done (the savory bread pudding was supposed to be baked at 350 degrees for an hour, BTW). So, I pulled them both out and tented the chicken with foil. I let both rest for 15 minutes.

I warmed up the half of squash with the smallest cavity in the microwave (the rest went into a bag in the fridge). I cut off a hunk of chicken, dug out a big scoop of bread pudding and plated my supper.

The chicken and squash were excellent. I’m on the fence about the savory bread pudding. It was like a mashup of dressing and bread pudding. It was good, but the texture was a bit weird.

My kitchen was a total wreck, but I did get a great Sunday supper!

I watched some TV and went to bed at 10:00 p.m.