History of the Dirty Snack

My mother was not born southern but she married at a very early age into a Kentucky family and learned to cook the way they did. We were poor, so she had to make things stretch. She would toss some of the most outlandish combinations of leftovers into a skillet and fry it. My dad called these dishes, which were nearly always pretty tasty, "dirty snacks." My mom would get so mad at him. I thought it was funny and to this day that's what I call the dinners I slam together from whatever I find in the fridge. My husband always cringes when I tell him the latest dirty snack is ready, but he dutifully eats it. He only threw up once after eating a dirty snack and I've been cooking them for most of our 30 years together.

Here's tonight's dirty snack recipe:

• Left over chicken and veggies (pearl onions, mushrooms, tiny carrots) from Sunday's coq au vin dinner
• Left over sauteed green beans, also from Sunday's coq au vin dinner
• A splash of chicken bouillon
• Shaved Parmesan cheese
• Left over basmati rice from Monday's dinner
• butter

Cut chicken and green beans into bite sized pieces

Place into a casserole dish

Top with rice

Splash 1/2 cup bouillon over all

Drop dabs of butter and sprinkle cheese over rice

Cover with aluminum foil

Bake in 375 oven for 45 minutes

45 minutes may be a bit long, but if there are any new forms of life forming in the leftovers, I want to make sure I don't eat them raw.