Chopped - The Home Edition

Tonite I wandered into the kitchen trying to figure out what we were going to have for dinner.  I needed to use up what veggies that Larry and Audrey may not use while I am gone for the week.

( I am leaving in the morning to go with my friend Sue to Buffalo to pick up a dresser - (Sue prefers good New York dressers, thank you very much!!)  And since we aren't going to Bouckville this summer, we plan to leisurely drive up and maybe actually GO into those antique malls we always quickly drive by because we are in such a hurry to get to the antiques in Bouckville.)

But I digress.

In my Chopped Basket I had a yellow squash, a package of mini cucumbers, a carton of pre-sliced mushrooms, 6 beautiful tomatoes, and some questionable chicken breasts.

From the Chopped pantry, (i.e. Larry was going to Wegmans anyway) I selected some fresh basil and fresh mozzarella.

I figured a nice Caprese pasta salad, and chicken breasts sauteed with mushrooms, onions, and squash.

First I cubed the mozzarella and put it in some Italian dressing to marinate.  Then I spent a happy 20 minutes or so chopping vegetables and slowly frying some bacon for the salad.  (This was a new brand of bacon that we bought in Maryland and I have to tell you, smelling it while it was in the pan cooking was enough to reduce you to tears - it smelled that good.)

I took the bacon out to drain and added the mushrooms to the pan and seasoned them.  
Then I took out the chicken and the question of the chicken breasts was answered as soon as I opened the package.  Thinking quickly, I bribed a crew-person  (Audrey) to run to the store and pick up a rotisserie chicken.

This move was frowned upon by the Chopped Judges who penalized me by digging out a just good thru today head of cauliflower from of the back of the fridge.

OK, mushrooms, onions, squash, and cauliflower?  Yep.  What is the cure for the common vegetable??  Cheese sauce!!  Made the old-fashioned way with that big ol' block of Velveeta also dug out of the back of the fridge.  I added sour cream and lots of good black pepper added the veggies and dumped it all in a casserole pan and popped it in the oven.

Yes, this a cheese heavy supper.  BUT the leftovers will be great and plentiful and will stand alone for lunches.

So, I went over a little on time, and had I any competitors, I would still be getting dirty looks for the rotisserie chicken, but I think I had a fine showing in this, the home version of Chopped.

You should stop by for some of the salad.  I did a chiffonade of basil and everything......

It would've only been better with breadcrumbs.....

Yum.