Chicken Pot Pie

After seeing my friend post a picture of one deeeliiish looking Pot Pie on Facebook, I got a craving… and you know about pregnant women and their cravings!  I just had to get myself some of this delicious, hearty, soul-filling pie.  Unfortunately, she lives in Boston so eating hers was out of the question.  She gave me the recipe she used from All Recipes and I adapted it to my liking.  Instead of boiling chicken breasts like the recipe called for, I decided it’d be easier to get an pre-cooked rotisserie chicken for the pie.  Plus, I figured I’d be able to use the carcass to make Chicken Stock (recipe to come).  I also doubled the sauce based on reviewer recommendation.

Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 1 whole rotisserie chicken, stripped from bones
• 1 cup frozen carrots
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 cup frozen white corn

• 1/2 cup butter
• 2/3 cup chopped onion
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp celery seed
• 2 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1 1/2 cup milk

• 2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts
• Egg Wash* (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Bring a pot of water to a boil, then blanch the corn, peas, and carrots.  Drain.
3. Combine chicken and vegetables in a large bowl and set aside.
4. In another saucepan over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent.  Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and celery seed.  Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk.  Simmer over medium-low heat until thick.  Remove from heat and set aside.
5. Combine sauce with chicken and vegetable mixture.  Pour mixture in bottom pie crust.  Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough.  Brush on egg wash*, if desired.
6. Make several small slits on the top to allow steam to escape.
7. Bake in oven for 30-35 minutes.  Cool for 10 min before serving.

*Note: to get a beautiful golden crust, brush a thin layer of egg wash right before baking.  There are a few variations to making an egg wash, but I chose to whisk together 1 whole egg and 1 tablespoon milk.

Adapted from: Chicken Pot Pie IX from AllRecipes.

My 1st Ever Lasagna!

Is it pathetic to admit that at 27 years old, I finally mustered up the courage to make my first lasagna??  For some reason, the many layers always seemed so daunting to me, but when I finally tried my hand at it this past week, it wasn’t hard at all!  I found a good recipe and followed it to the tee.  It turned out delicious and tasted even better the next day!  My husband and I happily gobbled it up for 3 days straight.

The sauce is also from scratch, though some lasagna recipes call for store bought spaghetti sauce to cut down on the prep time.  I think this sauce really made the recipe, and I plan to use it for many future pasta dishes, not just spaghetti!  It makes a really great stand alone meat sauce.  Eat up and Enjoy!

*Note: I doubled the sauce called for in the original recipe and still used ALL of it.  So I have double the ingredients here that the original recipe suggested.

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds lean ground beef
• 2 onions, chopped
• 4 (6 ounce) cans of tomato paste
• 1 (28 ounce) can of crushed or diced tomatoes
• 4 cups water
• 2 TBSP dried oregano
• 4 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 2 TBSP white sugar

• 12 ounces cottage cheese
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 egg

• 9 lasagna noodles
• 1 pound shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook meat until brown.  Drain.
2. In another skillet over medium heat, cook onions until translucent.
3. Combine beef and onion in a large saucepan with tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, water, oregano, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and sugar.  Cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil.  Then reduce heat to low and simmer for 1 hour.
4. While sauce is simmering, blend cottage cheese, parmesan, and egg until smooth.  Set aside.
5. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil.  Add pasta and cook for another 8-10 minutes until al dente.  Drain.  Set pasta side by side on foil or parchment paper so it doesn’t stick together.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
7. Spread 1/4 of the sauce on the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking dish.  Cover sauce with 3 noodles.  Cover noodles with another 1/4 of the sauce.  Top with half the mozzarella.  Place another layer of 3 noodles over the mozzarella.  Spread another 1/4 of the sauce.  Top with the cottage cheese mixture.  Top with remaining 3 noodles and the rest of the sauce.
8. Cover the lasagna with foil and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes.  Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella on top and bake uncovered for 15 minutes more, until golden and bubbly.

Calories: 473 per serving.

Recipe from: Linda’s Lasagna Recipe from AllRecipes.

Chicken and Broccoli Casserole

Smartphones are ah-mazing.  I happened to be at the grocery store and decided I wanted to make a healthy chicken dish with the extra chicken I had at home.  I busted out my new HTC Evo, typed in “chicken” in my recipe app… and this delicious but healthy recipe popped up!  My husband is picky about his vegetables, but one of his favorites is broccoli.  With only 5 ingredients (most of which I already had at home), it wasn’t a difficult decision to say YES to this recipe and whip it up for dinner.  Very minimal effort too!

Here’s my altered version of this quick and simple casserole dish…

Serves 4.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. skinless, boneless chicken breast
• 1 package frozen broccoli, broken apart
• 1 can reduced fat cream of mushroom soup
• 3 TBSP reduced fat mayo
• 1 cup reduced fat cheddar cheese

Directions: heat up a skillet and brown chicken breasts until cooked all the way through.  Remove from heat and cut into 1-inch pieces.  In a square casserole dish, mix the mayo and cream of mushroom soup.  Add the frozen broccoli and chicken and mix well.  Sprinkle with cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Harvest Blend with Veggies Galore

The other day I was browsing around Trader Joe’s (my favorite!) and came across a Harvest Grain Blend that combines soo much goodness in one bag – the description on the bag says “a savory blend of Israeli style couscous, orzo, baby garbanzo beans, and red quinoa”.  Yum!!  Now my dilemma when I got home was, what should I pair this with?  I had some chicken in the fridge, but I wasn’t in the mood.  I sought help from my friend Google and found a simple quinoa recipe  (see the “adapted from” at the end of this post) that seemed easily modified.  So here I am, whipping up my own version of God knows what.

I cooked the Harvest Grains Blend as stated on the package, then proceeded to top it with the leftover veggies I had on hand.  The result?  A delicious, texturey, healthy bowl of goodness.  It’s recipes like this that make me stop and say, “hmm… maybe I could become a vegetarian”.  But if I declared that, my husband might have a cow.

Serves 2.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 package of Trader Joe’s Harvest Grains Blend
• 1 3/4 cup water or chicken broth
• 1 TB butter

• 1 bunch asparagus, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt (optional)

Directions: Bring 1 3/4 cup water or broth to a boil.  Then add 1 TB butter and stir in 1/2 package of the Harvest Grains Blend.  Bring back to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered, for about 10 minutes.  Remove from heat.

Separately, boil asparagus in water until tender.  Immediately drain and leave it in an ice-bath.  In another pan, stirfry the chopped garlic and onions until tender, about 4 minutes, and season with garlic salt.

Top the cooked grains with your veggies and you have a hearty meal ready to go!

Adapted from: Delicious Big Bowl – Quinoa Recipe from 101 Cookbooks.

Cocoa Biscotti with Cranberries

I didn’t wake up this morning thinking, “hey I think I’ll make some biscotti today!” – in fact, the thought of baking biscotti has never crossed my mind even once in my life.  It was by sheer chance that I was using up the last stick of my butter, and decided to see what random recipe would be in the inside back of the box.  It was for a biscotti recipe… and then I realized, I had all the ingredients on hand.  The process looked easy enough, so I set out to make my very first batch of biscotti’s.  You can slice these as thin or thick as you want – I chose to go for thinner ones because I wanted them to have a delicate crunch.

Yield: 30 biscottis

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) of softened butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 TB molasses (I didn’t have this on hand so I left it out and replaced it with vanilla extract)

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 TB water
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup sweetened dried cranberries

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy (I used my KitchenAid Mixer, but you can use a hand-mixer or even your bare hands).  Beat in eggs and molasses (or vanilla).  Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl.  Blend into butter mixture along with the water.  Stir in walnuts and cranberries.

Divide dough in half.  On a lightly floured surface, shape each portion into two 2 x 10-inch long logs.  Place logs on a lightly buttered or parchment lined cookie sheet.  Bake 25-30 minutes or until firm.  Place logs on a cooling rack and let cool for 10-20 minutes (this is to ensure that you can cut into it easily later on).  After its cooled, cut diagonally into 3/8-inch slices using a serrated knife.

Place slices on a cookie sheet and bake at 250 degrees F for about 20 minutes, turning after 10 minutes, until dry.  Remove to a rack and cool.

Adapted from: Cocoa Biscotti with Cranberries from the Challenge Butter box.

Mushroom and Asparagus Risotto

We had leftover mushrooms from my Easter Sunday casserole, and since asparagus is also in season, I could think of nothing better than to combine the two and make a lovely risotto dish.  The common misconception is that Risotto is hard to make, but it’s actually really simple.  The most important thing you need to remember is to keep stirring.  This is not a dish you can leave unattended.  What makes this risotto so different from other recipes is the addition of Mascarpone cheese – it adds a layer of depth to this classic dish.

Here is my recipe for the week of April 5, 2010.

Serves 4.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 TB olive oil
• 1 1/2 TB unsalted butter
• 1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1/4 inch thick slices
• 8 ounces of white mushrooms, cut into 1/4 inch slices
• 8 ounces of fresh shiitake mushrooms, cut into 1/4 inch slices
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 large clove of garlic, finely chopped

• 1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
• 2/3 cup dry white wine
• 4-5 cups simmering chicken stock
• kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

• 1/3 cup mascarpone cheese
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan
• A sprig of parsley (optional)

Directions: Prepare an ice-water bath (to blanch asparagus after it’s done cooking).  Bring chicken broth to a boil in a 4-qt pot (you will need the stock later so don’t throw it out).  Add asparagus and cook, uncovered, about 3-4 minutes.  Immediately transfer asparagus into the ice-water bath.  Note: This stops the cooking process and also helps the asparagus retain its beautiful, green color.

Heat the olive oil and butter in a saucepan over medium heat.  Add the mushrooms, stirring occasionally, about 4 minutes.  Then add onions and garlic and cook for another 2-3 minutes.  Note: you add the onions and garlic after the mushrooms because they have a smaller surface area and take a shorter time to cook.

Add the rice and stir for a minute to coat with the vegetables, oil, and butter.  Then add the white wine and simmer over low heat, stirring constantly, until most of the wine has been absorbed.  Ladle in 1 cup simmering chicken broth and cook at a strong simmer, stirring, until absorbed by the rice.  Continue to add more broth and wait for it to be absorbed by the rice before adding more.  This process will take about 25-30 minutes.

After the risotto has been cooking for 15 minutes, drain the asparagus from the ice-bath and add it to the risotto, along with salt and pepper (taste as you go along and add salt as needed).  Continue cooking and adding stock, stirring constantly, until the rice is tender but still firm.

When the risotto is done, turn off the heat and stir in the mascarpone and parmesan cheeses.  Serve hot with a sprig of parsley on top.

Adapted from: Mushroom and Asparagus Risotto from Martha Stewart.

Bacon and Broccoli Quiche

Quiche Lorraine is the quintessential French quiche and arguably the most well-known.  It involves only 2 key components – bacon and cream.  Julia Child says that a classic Quiche Lorraine contains NO CHEESE!!  Um, quiche without cheese and only cream?  Sounds like crazy talk to me.

This classic quiche has become quite a springboard for all sorts of creative quiches, so here’s my twist on a classic Lorraine – adding some veggies with the bacon and definitely adding in LOTS of cheese.  I’ve made frittatas in the past, but this is my first time making a quiche, with a homemade piecrust too… I guess you can call me ambitious.  There’s really no difference between frittatas and quiches except that the latter involves a crust.

The amounts are adjusted for a 9-inch shell.

Ingredients:

• 9-inch partially cooked pastry shell
• 8 slices of medium-thick bacon
• 3 medium shallots, finely chopped
• 1.5 cups of broccoli, chopped
• 1.5 cups gruyere and swiss cheese
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups whipping cream
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Pinch of pepper
• Pinch of nutmeg

Directions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Cut bacon into 1/4-inch wide pieces.  In a skillet, cook bacon until crisp and fat is rendered, about 5 minutes.  Remove and pat down on paper towels, then chop into small pieces.  Press bacon down onto the bottom of the pastry shell.

Use the remaining bacon fat to stirfry the shallots (about 1 minute until translucent), then add the broccoli and stirfry for about 4-5 minutes.

Spread bacon and vegetables over the bottom of the crust.  Then sprinkle the cheese over it.   Beat the eggs, cream, and seasonings in a mixing bowl.  Pour over all the other ingredients.  Set prepared quiche in upper third of preheated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the quiche has puffed and browned.

Happy Eating!

Pastry Crust for Quiche

Ooh I’m excited because this is the first recipe I’m attempting from my Julia Child cookbook.  I’ve never made my own pie crust, much less my own pie!  Before we get started, I highly recommend watching this YouTube video..  Videos make directions so much easier to understand:

Ingredients:

• 2  cups all-purpose flour (scooped and leveled)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 tsp sugar
• 3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) chilled butter cut into 1/2 inch bits
• 4 TB chilled shortening (Julia says the shortening is what brings out the tenderness of the crust with a good buttery flavor, so don’t skimp on this)
• 1/2 cup of iced water (plus droplets more if needed)

Directions: Place flour, salt, sugar, butter, and shortening in a big mixing bowl.  Rub the flour and fat together rapidly between the tips of your fingers until the fat is broken into pieces the size of oatmeal flakes.  Do not overdo this step as the fat will be blended more thoroughly later.

Add the water little by little and blend until you have a ball of dough formed.  Don’t touch the dough more than you need to because the dough needs to remain cold for as long as possible (hence the ice water and chilled butter involved).  Add a few more droplets of water as needed.  Press the dough into a ball-shape.  It should be pliable but not sticky.  Now place the unrolled dough in the refrigerator for 30 min.

After the dough has been chilled, place the dough on a lightly floured board.  Place rolling pin across the center to start.  Gently roll the dough out with a rolling pin until the dough is about 1/8 inch thick.  At the end of it, the dough should form a crust about 2-inches larger than your pan.

Roll the dough onto your rolling pin, then slowly un-roll it over the top of your pie pan.  Gently lift and press the dough into the bottom of the pan and around the edges – do not overstretch your dough.  Trim off excess dough.  If you want, you can press a decorative edge around the rim of the pastry using the dull edge of a knife.  Place the pastry in the freezer for at least half an hour, until chilled.

When you’re ready to bake the crust, line the crust with parchment paper or foil.  Fill the crust with pie-weights such as dried beans or uncooked rice.  This will prevent the crust from collapsing or puffing up, helping it retain its mold.

Bake at the middle level of a 400 degree Fahrenheit oven for 8-9 minutes until pastry is set.  Remove the pie-weights.  Prick bottom of pastry with a fork at 1/2-inch intervals (this keeps the bottom from puffing up).  Return to oven for 2-3 minutes more.  When the shell is starting to color, remove it from the oven.  This results in a partially cooked shell ready to be filled with whatever ingredients you desire.  Making the dough is actually a lot easier than it sounds.  It’s just the extensive, very specific, and detailed directions that make it seem scary.

For my first time, I think my pre-baked crust turned out pretty good!

HOWEVER, in my haste, I FORGOT to put in the pie weights!!  4 minutes into baking, I realized it and rushed to take my crust out of the oven.  Luckily, it was still salvageable!  Only one corner had collapsed slightly, but most of it was still intact.  I didn’t take a picture of the collapsed crust, but yea… don’t be a dummy like me!  At least the finished result was still delish, though it won’t win a beauty pageant or anything like that.

Good thing this blog is a document of my journey, which almost always includes some bumps in the road.  :)

Adapted from: Mastering the Art of French Cooking: Volume 1 by Julia Child

Chicken Noodle Casserole

The most time consuming part of this dish is the prep, but you can cut down the time by using a bag of frozen vegetables if you’d like.  The assembly is super easy and all you have to do is wait 30 minutes for a hot, piping, delicious meal to come out of your oven.  The creaminess of the mushroom soup + the bubbly cheese makes this a hearty, flavorful dish anyone can enjoy.

You can make a lower fat version by using 98% fat free Cream of Mushroom soup, add another cup of chicken broth instead of milk, and use lower fat cheese.  I chose to use full-fat versions of everything this time around, but I did use whole wheat spaghetti to eliminate the refined carbs.  It also means more fiber.

The Casserole should look something like this after assembly:

Ingredients:

• 2 cans Campbell’s condensed Cream of Mushroom soup
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 cup milk
• 1 package whole wheat spaghetti
• 2 chicken breasts (cooked & shredded)
• 2-3 cups vegetables
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

Prep: Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Boil an entire box of spaghetti and drain.  Boil the chicken breasts and shred them with a fork (or your fingers).  Chop up vegetables if you’re using fresh ones.  Vegetables can be anything you want so be creative here.  I used finely diced yellow onions, red jalapeno peppers (to give it color and some heat), uncooked spinach and broccoli.

Directions: In a large bowl, stir together the cooked spaghetti, cream of mushroom, chicken broth, milk, vegetables, shredded chicken, and the salt and pepper.  Spread the noodle mixture evenly in a 9×13 casserole dish.  Top with cheddar cheese and bake it for about 25 minutes or until the cheese starts bubbling.

Here’s the finished product!

Adapted from: Hearty Chicken & Noodle Casserole on The Food Network

Chicken and Egg Easter Cupcakes

In honor of Easter, I decided to make an Easter cupcake for my first recipe.  I’ve always admired people who could make such decorative toppings on their cupcakes.  My amateur swirls of cream cheese frosting seem so drab in comparison.  There are several components to this dish – at the end of this, you should have a cupcake resembling this picture:

Things Needed to Assemble one Chick & Egg Cupcake:

• A vanilla cupcake (recipe below)
• Cream cheese frosting (recipe below)
• Green coconut grass (recipe below)
• Colored candied malt balls, M&Ms, or jelly beans
• A chick peep
• White airhead candy

Vanilla Cupcake Recipe

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup milk

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line cupcake tin with paper liners.  Using a mixer or food processor, mix sugar and butter until light and fluffy (sometimes I like to just use my hands).  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition, then add milk.

In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, and salt.  Slowly pour the flour mixture into the wet mixture.  Evenly fill the cupcake tins to about 3/4 of the paper liner and bake for 18-25 minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

• 1 (8 ounce) package of cream cheese
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 cups confectioners sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions: Mix the cream cheese and butter until creamy.  Add in vanilla, then slowly stir in confectioners sugar.

Coconut Grass

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
• 1-2 teaspoons green food coloring
• 1 teaspoon yellow food coloring

Directions: Preheat oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.  Put coconut in a shallow bowl and add food coloring until the right color is reached.  If color is too dark, dilute it by adding a few tablespoons of water.  Drain the coconut of the water and coloring, then spread it on a lined baking sheet.  Place coconut in the oven until its dry (about 10 minutes).

ASSEMBLY OF THE EASTER CUPCAKES:

1. Frost cupcake with the frosting.
2. Press coconut grass on top of the frosting.
3. Press the peep onto the center of the grass (to help the peep stay put, I actually cut off the bottoms of the peeps so that the sticky layer is exposed).
4. Cut a white airhead into a half oval shape.  Trim one side so that it has the cracked egg jagged edge.  Stick that in front of the chick peep.
5. Nestle the egg candies (M&Ms, jellybeans, or malt balls) on the grass in front of the cracked egg.

Adapted from: Chicken and Egg Easter Cupcakes from The Food Network and Vanilla Cupcakes from Joy of Baking.