Ten-ish Things: The Olympics

Like the rest of the world, we loved watching the Olympics.  Just about every evening whether we were at home, in Branson, at a friend's house, or out to eat, we watched...at least a little bit.

About the time the Opening Ceremonies happened, I was CRAVING some family time.  Our summer had been CRA-ZAY, and I needed ALL of my chickens back in the nest AT THE SAME TIME.  When I'm feeling that way, my method of operation is to create an event at home and invite only the five people that live in my house.

So we had an opening ceremonies viewing party.  The girls made decorations:

Can you tell which team we loved?

About 2 days before I decided to make something British for supper in honor of the host country.  The food they eat is pretty similar to the food we eat, so I thought it would be easy to find a recipe with common ingredients and familiar techniques. 

I tossed the idea around Facebook of making a chicken pot pie and calling it "Shepherds Pie" but was quickly corrected.  (I was enlightened, though, about a simple way to make Shepherds Pie...I think I might try it soon.)

I really wanted to use the rotisserie chicken I had in the fridge and I didn't want to buy too many special ingredients.  I asked the Google and I found a recipe for a Shooter Sandwich.  I ended up not following the recipe very much at all, but I liked the idea behind it, and it was something different, so...

Shooter-ish Sandwich

1 french loaf (whole, not sliced)
1/2 rotisserie chicken
1 pkg. frozen onions and peppers
4 slices any type cheese (we have used colby jack or swiss)

Warm chicken in oven.  Cut bread loaf through the middle and open sub sandwich style so that you have one huge sandwich.  Pick out the soft middle parts of the bread leaving just the crust (sort of like two long, shallow bread bowls).  Cook the onions and peppers in a skillet until desired tenderness.  When chicken is warm, de-bone and fill the bottom part of the sandwich with meat.  Next layer onions and peppers on top of chicken, and finally layer slices of cheese.  Replace the top half of the bread and wrap tightly in foil.  Heat at 250° for 20-ish minutes.  Remove from oven and slice for individual servings.  Serve warm with your favorite summer vegetable, or chips, or even a light soup in the winter. 

One loaf feeds our family of 5, with a couple of slices left over.

I've made it a couple of times since the Olympics and the last time I made it, I bought a whole chicken at the store and cooked it in the crock pot instead of buying a rotisserie chicken.  I think this would be a great way to use any kind of leftover meat...brisket, ham, roast, etc.

It wasn't very British, but it was fun to try something new. 

We spent 3 weeks staying up way too late cheering for Team USA.  Mary Tutu was really impressed with gymnastics.  When we are at the pool, all of the kids do the Phelps arm stretch before they jump in.  And now that Bubba has participated in a track meet, he was pretty interested in the Track and Field events.  I'm trying to convince the girls that they should go for synchronized swimming or diving since they are so similar in looks, size, shape, and mannerisms, but they aren't interested.

At least the kids got to sleep in after staying up past bed time.  The closing ceremonies were just in time for us to start the go to bed early/wake up early practice schedule.  We'll see how that went Monday morning when we do it for real.

Family time watching the Olympics...love!

New recipes that EVERYONE in the family will eat...love!

Share your kitchen successes!  What new recipes have you tried lately?