"Sip me up like lemonade from a mason jar. Make it good like some chicken fried in lard. I'm getting spoiled like old beans and I can't lose my head

'Cause when you're not around I'm crumbling like cornbread." Leela James























Since the election, I've been thinking about Hoover's 1928 promise of a chicken in every pot. What with our country teetering on the edge of a depression and winter about to set in, I was in the mood for some batch cooking.

As we adjust our lifestyle to accommodate theses tough economic times, batch cooking and filling the freezer is one way I can impact our family budget. The idea is simple. Budget, buy cheap, prepare ahead and use everything. Frugality pays, and if mom is at school or work, anyone can pull out a meal from the freezer and get dinner on the table.

With this in mind, my girlfriend Julie and her baby came for the day and we went to work.
Cooking with Julie may become a regular highlight here at The Mermaid Cafe. Not only is Julie a gourmet cook with a restaurant background, she is fun in a kitchen where many hands make light work. We can combine our resources, cook together, and divide the meals for each of our families.

I began our day by shopping the sales. I found whole chickens at 68 cents a pound and bought six of them. Four of these birds went into the oven, their cavities filled with onions and fresh rosemary from the garden. The other two two went into the stock pot with onions, carrots, parsnips, garlic, peppercorns, fresh parsley, and thyme from the garden. I left the skins on the onions on so the stock was a deep golden color.

After we roasted the birds, we removed all the meat and made a second big pot of stock from the bones. It was very rich and tasty. I portioned out the chicken for different uses, homemade hot pockets, pot pies, chicken Tetrazzini, etc.

Then I went to my treasured recipe box and pulled an old favorite, White House Chicken Casserole. My beloved sister Jane, a military wife and frugal homemaker, shared many smart recipes with me when I was a new bride. This is one of them.

When her family was stationed in Montgomery, Alabama at Officer Candidate School, one of Jane's duties was to help create the OCS cookbook. They would write the White House asking for a recipe from the wife of their Commander In Chief'. That recipe from the First Lady was always the first recipe in the book. If my sister recalls correctly, this White House Chicken Casserole was a Reagan era recipe. I should have worn a red dress while making it.

In the current atmosphere of hope, many have suggested we are experiencing a return to Camelot. Certainly, our First Lady Elect is much beloved. We have not seen her style, youth and grace in the White House for many years. In Michelle Obama's honor, I updated this classic casserole and renamed it Blackie Kennedy Chicken Casserole. There's no canned soup in Blackie Kennedy Casserole. These ingredients are vibrant, fresh and new.

First I sauteed fresh mushrooms until they were ready to share their liquid with other vegetables in need, in this case an under-privileged onion, a carrot that had not yet seen the light of day, some unemployed celery and a red bell pepper that needed a home. When the mushrooms gave their earthy brown juice to the pot, I just spread it around to create a richer vegetable base for the sauce.

Then I took a little of the chicken fat that had been skimmed off the very rich stock, added some olive oil so I could pretend it was healthy, and made a roux. Once the flour was browned in this chickeny goodness, I added our homemade chicken stock and some milk, creating a velvety sauce. Add to that the curry powder, a little tangy Hellman's mayonnaise, a minimal grating of nutmeg, a maximal grinding of black pepper and a generous shot of sherry. Your taste buds will be as happy as a Chicago Democrat.

I did not butter the casserole dish, as there is no possibility of this sticking and since I snuck that chicken fat into the sauce, there was no need for the extra flavor. I poured the sauce over some chopped fresh broccoli and a layer of chicken and popped it in the oven until it was a bubbly dish of delight. I grated up the odds and ends of the cheeses I found in my fridge, mixed them with some breadcrumbs made from the heels of some homemade whole wheat bread, sprinkled this on top, and returned the dish to the oven until it was nice and brown.

Ummmm. Spoon that over some lovely nutty brown rice and Bob's your uncle...or shall I say Joe's your plumber. There you have it, the perfect take along to your next Town Hall Picnic or Socialist Party Pot Luck.

Join us next week for more recipes from my Presidential Pantry.
I'll remake some traditional favorites, like the ever popular and kid friendly
Baracaroni and Cheese,
Biden Beef Stew,
and figure friendly Inauguration Vegetation Salad.

As our President Elect fills his cabinet, I will look through my cabinet and create something new, like Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel Holiday Challah and other politically inspired dishes.