Lunch for the Mommas

I recently had my two sweet friends (Gabe and Mary Rachel) and their boys over for a play date with Collins (as much as our little ones can play) and I wanted to cook lunch for us mommas. I had visions of me whipping up a stress free lunch while our babies napped and then us mommas would talk and eat. Well, what really happened was that Collins woke up with a fever that morning and was so not herself. She was up and down all day. I had a thousand things going on in the kitchen and our conversations were so sporadic and all over the place. Did I mention that I actually had plans to set out china for lunch just to put a cherry on top of my adorable ladies lunch? Let's just say that never happened. It was the thought that counts, right? I came clean with my friends and told them my intentions of fine china and they laughed and said they wouldn't hold it against me. You can't blame me for trying to live with rose colored glasses on!

Here are Gabe and Mary Rachel's sweet boys but no Collins:( She was sleeping.

So I already talked about my sweet friend, Mary Rachel in a previous post who was one of my mommas present and my other momma was life long friend, Gabe. Gabe and I have known each other since high school and have been dear friends since. We have 5 other best friends and we call ourselves the 6-pak. The 7 of us (yes, there is really more than 6 of us) were inseparable in high school and to this day we still have our special friendship. So how blessed was I to move to Houston where a 6-paker already lived!! Gabe and her precious family were there for us from the minute we moved down to the night we moved in, bringing us dinner and helping us put beds together so we would have somewhere to sleep! Having Gabe here is like having family close by. She is honestly my "in case of emergency" person besides my husband on Collin's paperwork. It is a sweet, sweet blessing to have her here.

Here is my dear friend, Gabe, and me getting mani and pedis for my birthday...little did I know she had stolen me away to help my hubby surprise me with a party for my 30th birthday. She is very sneaky!

So when we can, it is fun to get these two great friends involved in my bright ideas hence our little play date lunch. I think next time we should opt for a Mommas Night Out without the precious angels so we can really solve the worlds problems. But we managed to have good girl talk while chasing our little ones, calming their cries or trying to get them to stay in one place. The menu was pretty stinking good (Poppyseed Chicken Casserole over rice, spinach salad, french bread, mint chocolate pudding and almond tea) and we enjoyed ourselves! So in the end my mission was accomplished. Yay!

 Poppyseed Chicken Casserole

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

1 10-oz can cream of chicken soup

1 8-oz container of sour cream

2 tbsp. poppy seeds

1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed

6 tbsp. butter, melted

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

cooked rice

Boil chicken in salted water until tender. Cool and cut up into pieces. Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, combine chicken, chicken soup, sour cream, poppy seeds, cracker crumbs and butter. Pour into 9 inch baking dish. Top with cheese.  Bake until golden brown and bubbly, approximately 45 minutes. Serve with rice. 

Almond Tea

2 cups boiling water

3 tea bags

1 cup sugar

6 tbp. lemon juice concentrate

1 1/2 tsp almond extract 

1 tsp. vanilla extract

6 cups cold water

Pour boiling water over the tea bags in a large drink container. Steep to the desired strength. Remove the tea bags. Add the sugar, lemon juice concentrate, almond extract and vanilla. Stir until sugar dissolves. Add cold water. Refrigerate until chilled. Serve over ice and with fresh lemon. 

Peppermint Chocolate Pudding

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup cocoa

2 Tbsp. cornstarch

1/4 tsp. salt

2 cups half and half

4 oz. chopped semi-sweet morsels

1 tbsp. peppermint extract

mini peppermint patties

Whisk  together first 5 ingredients in a 2 quart saucepan. Bring to a boil over moderately high heat, whisking constantly, then boil, whisking 2 minutes until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate and peppermint extract until smooth. Transfer to small bowls and chill pudding, its surface covered with wax paper to prevent a skin (how gross does that sound!!) until cold, at least 2 hours. Top with peppermint patty. 

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