Creamed Quail Casserole

First of all, on a completely unrelated topic, I want to report that my children are insane. And just to prove it, they decided to go wakeboarding today. Even though the air temperature was 60 degrees, and the water temperature was 50 degrees, my boys thought wakeboarding was the appropriate activity for the day. Actually, Davis operated the boat, but he thought Lawson and his friend Matt had an excellent idea with today's water sports.

As soon as they put on their wet suits, I decided to come along, not only to take photos but also to be on hand with towels and blankets as soon as they emerged from Turner Creek. Matt went first, and as soon as he hit the water, he yelled, "Holy Mother of God, it's cold!"

Shocking.

Lawson decided at the word holy that he wasn't touching Turner Creek. But as the above photo shows, Matt had a fun time. He got home about three hours ago, and I think his toes are still tingling.

The least I could do was serve him a hot dinner.

Wednesday, Stephen went quail hunting in Statesboro, and since the Remler menu has not yet featured this game bird, I looked up some quail recipes for tonight's meal. Usually Stephen cooks the quail. He wraps those little breasts in bacon and cooks them on the Big Green Egg. He and the boys find them quite tasty, but I'll be honest. I'm not the biggest fan. I think there's more bacon to that recipe than quail, so when I eat it, I always remove the pork. Then all that's left is a little piece of white meat.

I wanted something different, and I found a simple but tasty recipe on quailrecipes.net. Even better, I already had all the ingredients. Here's my modification of the recipe:
16 quail breasts
salt and pepper to taste
garlic powder to taste
1 tsp. butter
1 can Campbell's Healthy Request cream of chicken soup
1 tbsp. butter
Salt and black pepper to taste
1/4 cup milk
1 jar sliced mushrooms (Okay, I used two jars. Lawson loves those little shrooms).
1/2 cup bread crumbs

Instructions:
Brush the quail breasts with a small amount of butter. Salt, pepper to taste. Add garlic powder to taste. Brown in a hot oven (400 degrees) for a few minutes (about ten). Remove from oven and reduce heat to 300. Cream together the soup, remaining tbsp. of butter, seasonings and milk. Pour over browned quail breasts. Sprinkle with mushrooms. Sprinkle with bread crumbs. Bake at 300 degrees for 55 minutes.

Because I've never seen Matt dig into a meal before, and because he told me today that he likes chicken, I put a plate of quail in front of him and said, "Eat your chicken." He thought it was good. Then I told him it was quail. He still thought it was good. Although he was not in love with my sauteed squash and roasted potatoes, he did give them a try--because I told him to. Next time, I'll make more quail for Matt.

Stephen and my boys also give this recipe a thumbs up, so when I'm able, I'll make this dish again.