Bena Mae’s Kitchen: Sunday afternoon in February

Today was the most miserable of days, but hey, it’s a Sunday in the middle of February and we ought to be used to it by now. The skies were gray, there was a drizzling rain with a forecast of snow, traffic was moving slowly, television was more of the same old-same old. Nothing for the wife to do but go to the Mall while  her other half stays home and nods off on the couch, half asleep watching a ball game being played somewhere, doesn’t matter what team or where. Typical Sunday afternoon.
Just get through it, I tell myself. February doesn’t last forever even though it seems it does. But it didn’t always seems so formidable. We had ways of getting around the boredom.
We played Monopoly sitting around the kitchen table, oblivious to the weather outside. The warmth of the fire from the cook stove in the kitchen made us feel as snug as a bug in a rug. After a rousing finish-with Daddy usually winning — we turned to other methods of entertaining ourselves. The aroma of corn popping on the stove would fill the room — we shelled it ourselves, making our fingers raw from shelling the sharp kernels.
We girls turned to cutting out paper dolls, making doll clothes or pasting pictures of movie stars in our scrapbooks. Don was probably outside rounding up enough players to make up a baseball team. He was a baseball fanatic. I think he even wore his baseball cap to bed.
In the summer it was different. After dinner, we went for a car ride, cramming every last one of us in the car until there was no room to move. After several choruses of each kid yelling “she touched me!” Daddy told us to shut up in no uncertain terms.
We traveled the old two-lane backroads — they were all back roads back then — past lush farms with straight as an arrow rows of corn reaching as far as the eye could see. If we passed a country store that was open, Daddy would stop and we would pile out of the car and go in and get us a bottle of pop. What joy I felt as the cold strawberry pop trickled down my throat.
Further on down the road we would look for a farmhouse with a sign that read “Molasses for Sale.” Mama would buy a couple of jars we would enjoy with the hot biscuits she made for breakfast each morning.
But no ride was complete without reading the Burma Shave signs along the way….. “DON’T STICK YOUR ELBOW OUT THE CAR/IT MIGHT GO HOME IN ANOTHER CAR.” Pure Americana, and we loved it.
Good memories for a miserable Sunday afternoon in February.

Good one-dish meal.

Cheesy Chicken & Broccoli Bake

1 pkg. (6 oz.) STOVE TOP Stuffing Mix for Chicken
1-1/2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 pkg. (16 oz.) frozen broccoli florets, thawed, drained
1 can (10-3/4 oz.) reduced-sodium condensed cream of chicken soup
1 lb. (8 oz.) VELVEETA Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
Prepare stuffing mix as directed on package; set aside.
Combine remaining ingredients; spoon into 13×9-inch baking dish.
Top with stuffing. Bake 40 minutes or until chicken is done.
Makes 6 servings, about 1-1/3 cups each.