Some Journey

Shut up and eat your broccoli

So for dinner I made chicken and broccoli casserole in the crock pot. One of my favorites, cause it's so darn simple. I throw in some chicken breasts, a little broth, pour in a bag of frozen broccoli and let it slow cook all day. About an hour before serving I add a can of cream of chicken soup and cooked rice. Now, I usually get the cheapest broccoli I can find. Generally Thrifty Maid, I think. I've been getting it for years and the kids always like it and I've never had a problem. For some reason (I don't remember why right now), last time I was at the store I decided to splurge and buy Green Giant broccoli.
So while I was working on my second plate, Sam sat back down after having dished up a 2nd or 3rd plate for himself and surprised me by saying, "Hey mom, what's this green thing?" I was like, "Duh, broccoli." He says, "It doesn't look like broccoli to me." So of course I responded with the kind of understanding that comes from listening to five kids and their various complaints at the dinner table on a nightly basis, "What else could it be, Sam? Just eat it and go on with your life."
"Um, no, really, Mom. This doesn't look like broccoli."
It was at this point that he removed the questionable object from his plate and set it down on the table next to me. He was right. It did not even moderately resemble broccoli. What it did very much resemble was a stink bug. It was the same fake looking green as the broccoli, so we assume that it was mixed in before Green Giant did their broccoli dyeing at the factory. It was also legless, which left us to wonder if the legs had been lost prior to getting mixed into the broccoli, or had they simply vanished into the crock pot. So the question then arose as to who might have eaten the legs. . .
Needless to say, as much as I usually look forward to having good leftovers for lunch all week, this will not be one of those weeks. And next time, I'm buying Thrify Maid.