COOKING!!!

I had a stress problem last week and, being an introvert, I desperately needed to both be productive and not have to interact with anyone while feeding myself, so I turned to my new oven for salvation.

Like a boss, I marched down the street into the local grocery store and started picking things out. I had no plan, only manic desire to create my own sustenance for the night. As I began selecting ingredients I realized there were parts of my brain waking up that had gone unused for months. Decisions were made in a flash, and I was a little astonished by the number of things I was evaluating and deciding upon in seconds. Chicken? Yep, good standard, I can cook that sixty ways into next week. Vegetable, I need something--potato. Chop, cook, done. Yes. Now for a topping, because potato and chicken are bland and they'll need flavor. Campbell's cream of mushroom soup with corn. Yep, that sounds like it'll have enough flavor, plus moisture to cook the meat and potato.

I got home and couldn't begin cooking fast enough. I was about to use a metal pan but switched it out for a glass one because I figured there was less chance of anything burning and sticking to the surface.

I washed the pan with dish soap, turned on the oven to let it heat, washed the potato, and started chopping.

That up in the corner is my amazing knife, which has a wicked-sharp serrated edge and nearly drew blood the first time I tested it. I love it to death. It made quick work of the potato (shown here in the metal pan, pre-pan-switch), which I spread along the bottom of the pan. Next came the soup, which had the consistency of paste. I spread it over the potatoes, then added what was probably a half cup of water and mixed it in to ensure there was enough moisture to go around.

Next, the chicken, which I sunk into the soup.

Then I put the pan into the oven, which was giving off massive amounts of heat and making me a bit nervous. (Nothing caught fire, though, so this story has a happy ending.) I was a little unsure of how to keep the oven at a particular temperature, but it generally hovered around 300F and I've cooked enough chicken in my life that all I need is a visual check of the inside to determine if it's safe to eat, so I didn't worry about that too much.

There is no good picture of the finished product in the pan because I was too busy eating it out of the pan (still in the oven) as soon as it was ready to remember that I was documenting anything.

I had no fork. I didn't care. The potatoes were soft and the chicken was tender and the soup added just enough salty flavor to make this the absolute best thing since everything ever (at the time). I'm now planning to attempt apple crisp for Thanksgiving and Christmas, because if there's one fall holiday tradition I intend to cling to, it's apples. Plus, given my experience here, I think it'll be decently easy.

As a side note, I ate most of the chicken/potato-thing that night and devoured the rest for breakfast and lunch the next day. I haven't had the chance to cook in forever and I had no idea how much I missed it. I'll be doing it again as soon as I can!