It's Good To Laugh At Yourself

You may remember that Wednesday is the day I cook lunch for the priests and office staff at a Catholic church. 

This has been a light work week. Monday morning I received a text from the associate priest, telling me that since the pastor wasn't available for dinner I didn't need to come in.

Because I wasn't there to do the advance work for Wednesday's meal, on Monday evening I went to the grocery store close to my house to see if I could find a lunch inspiration ingredient. The discount cooler had packages of ground chicken. A Google search for recipe ideas suggested I could use it to make white chicken chili.

The ground chicken was going to expire that day, meaning it would have to be used immediately or frozen. It didn't make sense to freeze it on Monday, then take it out to thaw on Tuesday, so I decided to do a little prep work at home by browning the meat in the oven before I froze it. 

Back at home, I started preheating the oven, then logged in using the online time clock system. When the meat was cooked I dumped it into a colander to drain off the fat, then transferred it to a freezer bag before I logged out.

 Last night I dumped dry navy beans into a Tupperware pitcher and added water so they could soak overnight.

In addition to Sundays, Roman Catholics in the United States observe six holy days of obligation. One of them is All Saints Day on November 1st, which made this morning extra busy. I packed my things in the car and left the house early for mass, then drove to the grocery store by the church where I purchased the rest of the ingredients for lunch (canned mild green chilies, chicken broth, a bunch of cilantro, sour cream, a bag of tortilla chips, lettuce mix and tomato for salad, and some Halloween-themed brownies for dessert from the clearance section).

When I turned into the church parking lot there were just a few cars visible. I parked in my normal spot, started walking up to the door, then saw a sign taped to the office door that said that the office was closed because of the holy day!

 I know that the church I attend is always closed on holy days, but because I wasn't there on Monday, somehow I didn't make the connection. Silly me!

 I drove back home and looked at all of my ingredients. Fortunately my frozen chicken was still rock hard and I threw it back in the freezer. I put the beans in a pot with fresh water and cooked them. Once they were cool I moved them back in the pitcher and put that in the freezer. 

All of the perishables went into the refrigerator. The produce won't last for a whole week, so we will use it up and next week I will personally purchase replacements. I briefly thought about freezing and reusing the dessert, but it would look a little silly to have something with a Halloween theme long after the holiday so I guess Hubby Tony and I will have to use those up too. 🤣