let them eat pie

today was windy. today was rainy. today was pot pie weather! and i think i'm in love. these chicken pot pies were so yummy, i was licking my plate clean. 

i used this mini pie maker that my sister gave me for christmas one year. i love this thing. at first i was a little concerned that it would become just another appliance taking up space in my cabinet, but i really use it every chance i get. dinner, dessert, breakfast. it's all good! but if you're not lucky enough to have a sister who gives you awesome gifts like a pie maker, i'm guessing you could easily put these puppies in a muffin tin and bake them in the oven. 

i used martha stewart's pate brisee recipe for the crust, and adapted a chicken filled puff pastry recipe from paris to provence. i made 8 pot pies total, but the number of pies was only limited to the amount of pie dough i had, because i had a lot of filling left over. i think you could half the filling recipe and still come out with 8 pot pies. or double the pie dough recipe and make 16 pies. i'd encourage making extra and freezing what you don't plan on enjoying right away...that way you have easy access to amazing pot pies anytime you want! the pies are little, so you'll probably eat more than one for a meal. my mister ate 2, the toddler ate about 1/2, and i ate 1 plus the kid's other half. as for my extra filling, i ended up tossing it with some pasta (thinned out slightly with chicken stock) for dinner the following evening. also delicious!

Chicken Pot Pies

3 tbs olive oil
1 shallot, minced
1 carrot, sliced
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, chopped in 1/2" cubes
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
2 cups green beans, trimmed & cut into 1" pieces
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1 cup white wine
6 tbs butter
5 tbs flour
1 c chicken broth
2 cups milk
salt and pepper

1 recipe pate brisee (or refrigerated pie dough)

chop / slice your veggies! 

heat the oil in a large skillet over medium. saute the shallots and carrots until fragrant and shallots become translucent. add the chicken and cook for ~5 minutes. 

add the mushrooms, green beans, thyme, and wine, and cook for 2 minutes. 

add the butter and stir until melted. 

decrease the heat to low and sprinkle in the flour to create a roux. 

add the chicken stock, then the milk. increase the heat to medium high and bring to a simmer. after the sauce thickens (~10 minutes), remove from heat and season to taste with salt and pepper. the filling will continue to thicken while you roll out your pie dough.

preheat your pie maker (or oven to 350). roll out and cut 8 bottoms and tops. place the bottoms in your pie maker (or muffin tins).

add the filling; one large ladle was perfect (~1/3 cup). put the pie dough tops on and cook for ~8 minutes in the pie maker (or 15 minutes in the oven...until they turn golden brown). 

and out them come onto a cooling rack! look how perfect this pie crust is! flakey buttery deliciousness!!

by the second batch, i realized i had enough dough to add cute little flowers on them. thanks to my pal, Lisa, for the cookie cutters all the way from Holland!

i'd like to say i was being rustic and that's why i didn't break off the ugly edges of the pies, but number one, the crust was delicious and i didn't want to waste it, and number two, when i tried to break off the edges for the pictures, they weren't breaking off nicely, and the pretty part of the crust started to crack, so i gave up. so we'll just stick with rustic.

beef it up! mongolian style

we used to eat a lot of takeout. a lot...i'm a little embarrassed to admit it, but minimally, we did it every weekend, and sometimes (when i was feeling lazing) during the week too. i don't miss it for the most part. i feel like most of the things that we used to takeout could be done fairly easily at home. but i've never really ventured into making chinese takeout. i don't know why. i love it. mongolian beef is one of my faves. it has such robust flavor. why is it called mongolian beef? is it mongolian? or chinese? i actually had to google it. turns out it's neither. it's "chinese american." not traditional at all. oh well. it's still delicious! 

the original recipe was a pinterest find. i tripled the original recipe. i know. that seems ridiculous. but in my attempt to be frugal, i bought the beef from the bulk store, and they don't sell just one pound. plus, i was feeding 5 adults, and my mama always said to get 1/2 a pound of meat per person, so i figured i wouldn't be going too overboard. anyhoo, since i beefed it up and did 3 lbs, i cut the beef before starting the sauce, because i knew it would take me a little while. we also had some steamed bok choy. the recipe made a lot of sauce, and the bok choy was amazing topped with a bit of the sauce.

• Mongolian Beef
• 1 tbs vegetable oil
• 1½ tsp ginger, minced
• 4 tbs garlic, minced
• 1½ cup soy sauce
• 1½ cup water
• 2½ cup dark brown sugar
• vegetable oil, for frying (~ 1 cup)
• 3 lb flank steak
• 3/4 cup cornstarch
• 2 large green onions, chopped

• 
  
• heat 1 tbs of vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over medium/low heat, 
• without letting it get too hot. add ginger, garlic, soy sauce and water to the pan, being careful not to scorch the garlic. dissolve the brown sugar in the sauce, then increase the heat to medium and boil the sauce for 2-3 minutes or until the sauce thickens. remove it from the heat and set aside

slice the flank steak against the grain at a 45 degree angle into 1/4" thick slices. coat each piece with cornstarch and then let sit for 10 minutes.






 heat up one cup of oil in a wok over medium heat. the oil should be hot, but not smoking. add the beef to the oil in batches and saute until brown, cooking evenly on both sides. after a couple of minutes, remove the cooked meat and place on paper towels. dab excess oil off meat and add to back to the wok together with the sauce. put the wok over medium/low heat. add chopped green onions and let sauce simmer. i added a little extra cornstarch (mixed with water) to thicken the sauce a little more. serve over rice.

i obviously forgot the green onion, but it was still amazing, so i forgave myself

we gets the spaghetts

spaghetti sauce. can it be considered a comfort food? i think it's one of my ultimate "feels like home" meals. and in a slow cooker, it's just so gosh darn easy. have i mentioned how much i love my slow cooker? oh, not in this post?

i like to blend up a bunch of veggies to cook into the sauce. so now the fam is eating a veggie packed meal, and they don't even know it! yes. i'm sneaky. and i like it!  i started to sautee the ingredients in the morning before work, and my mister came out of the bedroom nearly drooling over the smell. i just love that feeling. of course, for a vegetarian option, just omit the beef and sausage and voila! a delicious marinara. 

please be warned...this recipe makes a. lot. i think i froze at least 6 cups of sauce...maybe half of the batch? i'm a non-traditionalist when it comes to the pasta, so i used farfalle. it might be a texture thing, but i won't admit to it. i'll just go with it's easier to eat...no fork twirling required! that's my story, and i'm sticking to it.

Spaghetti Sauce

1 lb ground beef

1 lb italian sausage (casings removed)

1 tbs evoo

1 med onion diced

1 each carrot, zucchini, celery stalk - minced in the food processor

1 tbs minced garlic2 - 28oz cans crushed tomatoes

1 - 6 oz can tomato paste

2 bay leaves

1 tbs dried basil

1/2 tbs dried oregano

1 tbs brown sugar

1 tbs balsamic vinegar

Salt & pepper to taste

brown the beef and italian sausage in a pan (i used the insert from my slow cooker, which is stove top safe...yay for less dishes). set meat aside. 

heat evoo in the pan, and saute the onion, garlic, and veggies until onions start to become translucent and fragrant. 

add the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, brown sugar, balsamic vinegar, bay leaves, basil, oregano, and freshly cracked pepper. stir well to combine

(add to the slow cooker at this point to make a marinara)

add the meat and combine. if your slow cooker tends to lose moisture and dry things out, add 1/2 to 1 cup of water as well. my cooker has a good seal, so no extra water was needed. cover your slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hrs.

remove the lid on the slow cooker, stir the sauce, and remove the bay leaves. season with salt to taste. serve with your favorite pasta!

fajita me!

i seem to be on a mission to try a new slow cooker recipe as often as i can, which is nearly weekly. i think i've only done one repeat recipe so far. but not because i don't like all these recipes. just because there are so many to try. 

but i think i may need to make this one again fairly soon. it was so easy. and very tasty. i adapted this from a recipe i found on pinterest, of couse. that site is so addicting. but i must say, it has really expanded the variety of my weeknight dinners! sorry, i didn't take pictures until we were cleaning up, so I only have one. i was feeling a little sketchy about of the fajitas would turn out, so i wasn't 100% sure i was going to post this one. but it got a big thumbs up all around the table, even from the two-year old. 

Slow Cooker Chicken Fajitas

3 large chicken breasts (2.5-3 lbs)
1 each - green, red, and yellow bell peppers, sliced
1 onion, sliced

1 lime (juice)
2 pkts taco seasoning
flour or corn tortillas
toppings – sour cream, salsa and guacamole (recipes here), cheese

slice peppers and onions then place them on the bottom of the crock pot. put chicken on top of peppers and onions. pour lime juice over chicken, then sprinkle taco seasoning on top. cook on low for 6-8 hrs (or high for 3-4). 
shred the chicken and mix in the sauce. serve with tortillas and desired toppings.

sushi night at home

so i've been craving sushi for a while, but it seemed too cold to eat sushi. today started off as a humid day, and it stayed warm all day. i guess we could have gone to our nearby conveyor belt sushi joint, but we had some yummy kewpie (japanese mayo) that's been staring at me every time i open the fridge. aaaand, the mister made rice last night that we ended up not even touching. thus, sushi night at home commenced. i'll be honest, i was a little nervous. it was my first time and i don't have one of those bamboo sushi rolling mats, but it seemed to work out pretty well. i made california rolls and spicy ahi rolls. i added imitation crab to the spicy ahi, which isn't the norm, but i like a little more texture with my raw fish, and i also wanted a little something extra in there. 

first i started by making my sushi rice. i used alton brown's recipe, except my rice was made in a rice cooker...i'm guessing much easier than on the stovetop. 

sushi rice:

2 cups short grain rice (cooked)

2 tbs rice vinegar

2 tbs sugar

1 tbs kosher salt

microwave the vinegar, sugar, and salt for 30-45 seconds and mix until most of the salt and sugar dissolve. put the cooked / hot rice in a large bowl and gently mix in the vinegar mixture. let it cool at room temp. 

california rolls:

sushi rice

avocado (thinly sliced)

6 pieces imitation crab

cucumber (sliced into sticks - 6 needed)

kewpie (or other mayo)

3 sheets nori

spicy ahi rolls:

sushi rice

~1/4 lb spicy ahi poke (bought at the market, gently minced)

kewpie

4 pieces imitation crab

4 slices cucumber
2 sheets nori

place a sheet of nori on a cutting board. wet your hands and spread some rice onto the nori; spread it to the side edges, but about an inch away from the top and bottom so you can seal the rolls. spread the kewpie on the rice. closer to the bottom, place your ingredients lengthwise across the rice: california rolls - 2 slices of imitation crab, 2 slices of cucumber, ~3 slices of avocado. ahi rolls - spicy ahi, 2 slices of imitation crab, 2 slices of cucumber. roll the bottom end of the nori over the fillings and tightly roll away from you. wet the top end of nori with your finger to seal it. with the seam side down, use a sharp knife to slowly cut the roll in half; cut into a total of 8 pieces. i ended up with 2 rolls of spicy ahi (16 pieces) and 3 california rolls (24 pieces). enjoy!

no kitty, that's my pot pie!

thanksgiving came. it conquered. it was super delicious. and it went. but not without a ton of leftovers. so instead of eating turkey and gravy for the next week (although there's nothing wrong with that), i decided to try making some turkey pot pies. that just sounded like such a great idea. and i need more excuses to break out my mini-pie maker. the green bean casserole i used is alton brown's best ever green bean casserole (they're not kidding when they say "best ever"!!), but since it was 2-day leftovers, it needed a little more sauce (especially since we were mixing in the yummy turkey). i had a disk of deliciously buttery pate brisee crust (martha stewart's recipe, of course!). that recipe makes enough for 2 pies, but i only made one pumpkin pie for thanksgiving dinner. the leftover disk was enough to make 4 mini-pies. of course you could use refrigerated pre-made pie crust, but this crust is so easy and delicious, it's definitely worth it to make your own crust.

turkey pot pies
leftover turkey (about 1.5-2 c), chopped
leftover green bean casserole (about 1.5-2 c), beans cut in half
1 tbs butter
1 tbs flour
1/2 c chicken broth
1/2 c half and half
1/2 c french fried onions
salt and pepper to taste
1 disk of pate brisee pie crust

in a pan, melt the butter, then add the flour, and cook for about a minute. mix in the chicken broth and simmer for an additional 2 minutes. add the half and half and stir occsaionally until it thickens (5-6 minutes). add french fried onions, turkey, casserole, and salt and pepper to taste.

preheat the pie maker while you roll out and cut your pie dough. put the larger round into pie maker, add ~1/3 c of the turkey mixture, and cover with the smaller round. cook for ~8 minutes, until crust looks golden and crisp. 

you can use a fork to eat it, but as my 2-year old demonstrated, it's more fun to just pick up the little pies with your hands and dig in!

have you seen the pumpkin man?

happy halloween! this year my sweetie's sister scored some pumpkins after an early halloween party, so we had an impromptu pumpie-carving session after dinner one night...mental note: start the carving a little earlier than 930 pm...those things take a loooooong time to clean! at least the carving was easier than i remember...i think we had some pretty good tools this year. but lookie-lookie, my pumpie has a scar on his left cheek...just like me! he was meant to be mine!

since cleaning the pumpkins took so long, we saved all the seeds (three pumpkins were carved that night). we all said, "someone should make spicy pumpkin seeds!" unfortunately, we all said it thinking someone else would make it. well, just so happens that i had the next day off, so the task was left to me. making the seeds was really easy...just mix with the spices and bake. but i must say, pumpkins and their cleaning...goodness! turns out even seed cleaning is a lengthy process...the pulp just didn't want to let go of my seeds! it was worth it, though...spicy seeds get a cheer from our house!