Identity Crisis

Is it time for autumn or are we still enjoying summer?  Is anyone else confused?  I find it hard to know what clothes to put on in the morning.  And trying to decide what to cook is equally difficult as I always want different kinds of foods during different seasons. 
Today I really wanted some sort of comfort food, and chicken & biscuits seemed to fit the bill.  I also had recently received a butternut squash and an acorn squash that needed to be cooked.  A friend of mine posted on Facebook that she was making biscuits and gravy.  I thought maybe I should just go bum dinner off her but decided to get my act together and prepare dinner here instead—a very random, mixed-up, delicious dinner.

Menu

Mandarin Orange Salad (p.39)

Butternut Squash Soufflé (p.84)

Chicken & Biscuits (p.149)

In the morning, I put the butternut squash (and the acorn squash) in the oven to bake.  (On another note, one task I like least of all is prepping winter squash.  Cutting through the rind is hard enough, and then you have to get all the seeds out.  But the end result is worth it. . .I guess.)  Early in the afternoon I cooked some chicken to use for the main dish.  I also had some leftover roast chicken.  At 4:00 I started making the squash soufflé, with a little help.  I used brown sugar rather than white because that's what I had on hand.  Simple to mix together; simple to put into the oven.  It looked like it would be delicious. 

I then started combining ingredients for the chicken & biscuits.  Earlier in the day, I had gone to a specialty grocery store to pick up a few things.  They did not have refrigerated biscuits, and I really didn't want to drag everyone into another store, so I decided I would just make biscuits with some biscuit mix I had in my cupboard.  I mixed everything according to the recipe except for the biscuits and had the pan ready to go into the oven as soon as the soufflé came out of the oven.
 As I pulled the soufflé out, a wonderfully delectable aroma of cinnamon, vanilla, and nutmeg filled the kitchen.  It seemed fall had finally arrived.  Into the oven went the chicken for 15 minutes at 400^o.  I then pulled it out to put the biscuit mix on top and put it back in to bake for about 10 more minutes.  At that point, I couldn't wait any longer; I had to taste the soufflé.  I sampled a little from the corner.  Thanksgiving had arrived!  Imagine a very tasty pumpkin pie.  Yummm.
The chicken dish was finished, and I was preparing to get everything on the table.  At this point, my life turned into a comedy of errors.  I suddenly realized my meal wasn't complete.  I knew I MUST have planned some sort of green vegetable or dish.  Where was it?  And what was it going to be?  Then I remembered.  THE SALAD!! I had even gone to the store to get the mandarin oranges for it.  Thankfully, it was very easily and quickly prepared.  (I had to work quickly as I had a baby girl informing me quite loudly that she was ready for supper, and a little boy asking me every other minute, “Is it time to eat yet?”  And it was only 5:55!  We normally don't eat until later.  I think they must have smelled all the deliciousness and wanted to eat it.)

As I reached for the cutting board to chop the celery, a cooking utensil fell into the soufflé, creating a crater.  Oh well—it will still taste wonderful.  Then I reached for my container of soaked, toasted almonds, and the lid pulled off, causing the container to fall to the floor and almonds to go everywhere.  Sigh.  My son came running in to see what happened and started to pick up some almonds.  I stopped him, thinking he would step on them and create an even greater mess, to which he replied, "But Mom, I was going to help you clean up the mess."  Melt my heart.  So once we cleaned up the almonds, I began to prepare the dressing only to discover that I was out of white vinegar.   I substituted part apple cider vinegar and part rice vinegar.  It worked.  We got the dinner on the table without further incident and started in on our feast.  (And it wasn't much after 6:00 by this point.  The salad is a very good one to prepare when you are crunched for time.)  Another point of interest is that my cookbook is now broken in; there are now food stains on a couple of pages.

The salad was quite good, as was the dressing.  The balance of sweet and tangy seemed to be just right.  I think it would be better with the white vinegar, but it really was just fine as it was.  (The salad says “summer” to me.)  The soufflé was truly amazing.  I almost felt guilty eating it as a vegetable.  It was much too decadent for that—definitely my new favorite way to fix butternut squash.  The chicken & biscuits were, well, comfort food.  The texture was comfort, the warmth was comfort, and the taste was comfort.  A perfect way to chase away the rainy day blues or a chilly gray day.