Comfort Food!

Well I haven't been doing a very good job of keeping up with this the past few weeks.  With the holidays rapidly approaching, and Jillian's arrival sneaking up on us just as quickly, there's been a lot of chaos.  So we'll start back up again with a food post, my favorite kind.  Yum!

I think we can all agree there's nothing better than digging into your comfort food on a winter's day, especially when you've had an odd day/week/whatever.  And I've had a weird couple of days and sleepless nights.  With five and a half weeks to go until Jilly's due date, I'm starting to feel like my body is falling apart.  In the past week, I've been able to breath better and have had less heartburn with Jilly not living in my ribs anymore, but this has come at a price.  Now, I'm having a lot of discomfort in my, ahem, lower regions.  She hasn't dropped yet, but I think she's starting her descent down and nestling into my pelvis.  Yay for Jilly, as that's exactly where she needs to be.  Along with this, I've had an insane number of contractions over the past few days.  I'm not dehydrated in the slightest and drinking plenty of water, and they're definately not regular, closer together, but they're persistant and annoying nonetheless.  Seems like my body is really starting to get ready for the upcoming task at hand, and Jilly's getting ready for her big debut! 

Anyway, back to the comfort food.  As I've said before in posts, with Marshall working 12 hour nightshifts I get a lot of evenings by myself to experiment in the kitchen.  And tonight, I started thinking about multiple comfort meals at once: shepherd's pie, chicken pot pie, and mostly mashed potatoes smothered in gravy (which is weird b/c I don't normally like gravy!).  Checking my cupboads, I decided to improvise and combine the three meals together.

So, I set out on a mission to do something I've never done before: make a homemade gravy.  I had a can of chicken broth in the pantry, and figured I could stumble my way through figuring out how to gravy-fy that.  I started the same way I make a roux, with 2 Tbsp butter, melted in a pan, topped with 2 Tbsp flour, and whisked constantly to make a past over medium heat.  Then, I added in the can of chicken broth and 1/2 cup milk, continuing to mix until completely mixed.  I added in 1 Tbsp. minced onion and sprinkled in some pepper.  I ended up adding about another Tbsp. on flour to thicken the gravy.  While all this was going on, I cheated on the mashed potatoes and used boxed instant mashed potatoes, so those were cooking while the gravy was thickening.  In addition to all that, I had some frozen mixed veggies cooking in the microwave.

After I got the gravy to a thick consistency, I added in a 9 oz. can of chicken breast, drained and shredded.  I wish I had a 12 oz. can, because I think it needed a little more.  I whisked that into the gravy, which shredded the chicken a little more and mixed it all together.  Finally I added the mixed veggies to the mixture.  I kept it cooking on medium heat until heated through.

I scooped myself a plateful of mashed potatoes, and topped it with the gravy mixture.  And it was delicious!

Like most good comfort foods, it looks...interesting...to put it nicely.  But looks can definately be deceiving, as it tasted amazing.  Comfort food at it's finest, and all from a few things I keep in my pantry at all times anyway!  I may have a new go-to meal.

Tomorrow Jillian and I have our 34 week appointment.  We're going every two weeks now.  I can't believe how soon her arrival will be.  I'm having a baby next month, eek!  As Marshall and I are preparing for Christmas, we're both getting really excited that this is our last Christmas as the two of us, and that next year we'll be celebrating Christmas as the three of us.  I'm so looking forward to my baby girl's arrival!