Food Creates Memories

I have fond memories of my mum coming home after a long day at work to cook a delicious meal for us for dinner. I would watch how she would go about preparing a chicken and vegetable casserole – cutting up the chicken and chopping the vegetables – I would always love to help. When my boys were little I would often cook this dish because it’s easy to make and they loved eating it. With winter here, this type of comfort food is high on my cooking list.

Recently, I decided to cook a chicken and vegetable casserole at my son’s house while I was looking after my gorgeous grandson Pedro. Looking after Pedro is such a pleasure and I love spending time with him. It reminds me of a time so long ago, when I would sit on the floor with my boys playing with building blocks and reading books – it was such a happy time in my life and now I get to do it all over again with my baby grandson.

That day, I knew Theo and Bree were going to have a long day working and I thought it might be nice for them to come home to a hot meal. So when Pedro was having his nap, I cooked. It turned out I was right, they were very grateful when they came home and discovered what I had done. In fact, Bree loved the dish so much that she asked me for the recipe and cooked it herself. I was so proud of her when she sent me a photo.

The best thing about cooking a dish like this is that you can use whatever vegetables you like or have in the fridge. You just need to be mindful that some vegetables take less time than others to cook. For example, root vegetables like carrots and potatoes take much longer to cook than leafy vegetables like zucchini or silverbeet, so just add these to the pot about 30 minutes after the other vegetables.

This is a great dish for working mums to make ahead and quickly reheat for a healthy family weeknight dinner, so here’s the recipe to try out for yourself  –  Chicken and Vegetable Casserole