Chicken Ragu Because Cooking Is Zen

The best part; chopping those veggies

Making the sauce and pasta

What I like most about cooking is the chopping part.  So my favorite recipes always end up calling for chopped veggies.  It takes a certain amount of zen to mince garlic by hand or dice an onion without losing a finger.  I wouldn't say I hide behind the cutting board, but it has always been a place where I can find some solace at the end of the day (*bonus* you don't have to feel guilty for not entertaining the kids because you are cooking their dinner!).

Saturday was that kind of day, the kind where if you don't have something to look forward to, you won't make it to the end.  Nothing specific, just a million errands and tasks on the list which always leads to random unplanned-for adventures.  

Like how we were at Target because MyGirl's allowance was burning a hole in her pocket.  

She and her brother decided to blow money on some meaningless plastic bits and could not wait till even the car to open the packets.  So off to the bin they went, still in Target while I am answering the zillionth question on the credit card reader (yes, I want it all on one card).  

And the toy jumps out of the packet and into the bottom of the trash bin.

With otherworldly powers of Mama Zen, I calmly went to the customer service desk and asked for a little help.  That woman should win some kind of award for Nicest Target Employee Of The Millenium or something.  She came to the rescue with sanitizer and plastic gloves and dug through Target slushies and half eaten hot dogs.  I almost asked if I could hold her hair back, but thought that would be a little weird.

She found my kid's little plastic bit at the very bottom and we were finally free to get on home.

So all day, I looked ahead to making this recipe.  

I followed it a bit loosely and it turned out delicious! Have you ever heard of chicken ragu?  It took a long time to make, the recipe requires making your own chicken stock.  But mostly you are simmering and occasionally stirring so I was even able to get my reading assignment done for class, which was good because the assignment for it was due at midnight.  And I doubled the recipe for leftovers (pasta is always better the next day).

All I have to say is that any day gets better when there is homemade ragu at the end of it.  Really.

Chicken Ragu & Rigatoni

Don't forget to enter to ***WIN*** a pair of my earrings over at Clussster!