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.

i'm just baggin' on ya!

i've been slightly obsessed with bean bags lately. my little guy has been enjoying tossing them around the house, and they've been a big hit in my speech therapy room, too! i've been using them as a reinforcement between speech activities (throwing them into a bucket or letting the kids stack up blocks in different configurations and knocking them down, angry birds style), or as part of the speech activity (having kids throw them at cards on the ground to pick out their targets). big hit. literally. ha. now let's make some!

first mix rice (extra fancy! because it was on sale) with a few drops of liquid candle scent (to make them smell ah-mazing)

cut some cute scraps into rectangles

then fold them in half inside out and sew around the edges,

but don't forget to leave a little section open at the end!

now flip that bad boy inside out and open up the little section to fill with your scented rice. you can make a funnel with a piece of paper to minimize the rice spillage. then sew up the little hole using a blind ladder stitch.

there you have it! the possibilities are endless. ok, they could probably end at some point, but the kids have been choosing them week after week for a while now. it's nice to mix things up in the speech room with a little bit of physical activity every now and then!

lava flow on a stick

can you believe it's summer time already? how do the months keep slipping past me? before i know it, it'll be christmas! don't tell anyone, but we actually still have a box of christmas decorations that didn't go back into the attic yet...now i'm feeling like we should just keep it out. they'll all be coming back out soon enough, right? 

since it's summer season, i've been buying some beautiful strawberries at my bulk store. i've also been buying some sweeeet pineapples. and having them in the house both at the same time makes me think of lava flows. i really enjoy a good lava flow. but they're kind of embarrassing to order...it's a big girly drink in a big girly glass, with the pineapple slice and umbrella sticking out from the top. sheesh, they could at least put it in a regular glass so i don't look like such a frou frou while i'm drinking it. 

so to make myself feel less frou frou (although i am at home, so i guess i could be as frou frou as i want and no one could judge me) and make it toddler-friendly at the same time, (lightbulb!!!) i decided to make lava flow popsicles. wow. that was a pretty good idea, if i do say so myself. the strawberry part was a wee bit tart, so i'm guessing a bigger dosage of sweetener may be in order...i used ~1tsp, but maybe a tablespoon or two may be better. it probably depends on how sweet your strawberries are. 

Lava Flow Popsicles

2 cups fresh pineapple, chopped

1 can coconut milk

1 banana

2 cups fresh strawberries, hulled

1-2 tbs agave (to taste)

puree the pineapple, coconut milk, and banana until smooth, and set aside. puree the strawberries and agave, and set aside. 

fill the popsicle mold 1/3-1/2 of the way up with the strawberry puree. if you're using a zoku maker, allow strawberry puree to sit until an outer shell forms, then use the siphon to remove unfrozen liquid from the center. fill remaining with the pineapple mixture. freeze until solid (2-3 hours using regular popsicle molds, follow instructions for zoku maker). 

bake it up!

when it comes to potluck dinners with the in-laws, i frequently find myself in charge of a veggie dish and an appetizer. the requested veggie dish is typically green bean casserole. it's darn good. and (bonus!) i can use the leftovers in potpies, like i did here. i try to switch it up a little more when it comes to the appetizers. but there are some definite faves that i go back to. i've been on a little bit of a sushi kick lately, but making sushi for that many people (18-ish) was a little more labor intensive than i had time for. (btw, when did easter turn into a christmas-esque holiday? driving around to visit with 3 different families, cooking 3 different dishes, and making gift bags for the kids? jinkies!) anyhoo, i made this sushi for my sissa the week before, and had bought the imitation crab for the california rolls at my bulk store. of course i didn't need all that crab, so i decided to make make baked sushi for my appetizer for tonight's easter dinner. it's like a delicious sushi casserole. you serve it with pieces of nori (korean nori is the best!) for your guests to make their own mini-rolls. 

sushi rice:

4 cups short grain rice (cooked)

3 tbs rice vinegar

2 tbs sugar

1 tbs kosher salt

crab topping:

8 oz cream cheese (i used light)

1 c mayo

1 lb imitation crab sticks, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

korean nori

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 9x13 pan and gently mix in the vinegar mixture.

mix together cream cheese and mayo until smooth. add imitation crab and mix until pieces are broken / shredded. mix in salt and pepper. 

spread crab topping onto the rice, and put into the oven with the broiler on high. cook for ~10 minutes, until the top starts to brown lightly. serve with nori. 

mmm...now, go bake it up!

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!

salsa-shark and guaca-mole

making your own salsa and guacamole is so gratifying. it tastes better than the kind you buy at the market, it's cheaper, it doesn't have any preservatives, and lets face it, it feels great when someone says, "wow, this is soooo good," and you get to say with a coy smile, "oh, i made it." 

let's start with the salsa. this salsa is the best! it reminds me of my favorite salsa at one of my favorite hole in the wall mexican joints. and it's super easy to make because you just toss everything in the blender. my mr is mildly obsessed with it, and is a really happy guy when i make it. oh and it makes kind of a lot - a little over 4 cups. so you'll have plenty to enjoy. it's great to take to parties (who doesn't love salsa and chips before dinner?), or just to enjoy as a daily snack by yourself. do i even need to mention that this is adapted from a recipe i found it on pinterest? or is that implied at this point?  

Blender Salsa

1 - 14oz can diced tomatoes

1 - 10oz can original Rotel

1/2 small onion, roughly chopped

3 cloves garlic, peeled

1 jalapeno (seeded or not - depending on how spicy you are)

1 tsp honey

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground cumin

handful of cilantro, washed

juice of 1 lime

put all ingredients into a blender and pulse to combine for ~30 seconds or until all ingredients are finely chopped and salsa is desired consistency. taste for seasoning and adjust as needed. best if you let sit for at least 30 minutes before serving.

i was *this* close to buying guacamole at the bulk store today. i stopped myself, because it was about $10. i know it was a lot of guac, but i decided making it would be a much better idea (for the above mentioned reasons). plus, i would already have some of the ingredients because i was making salsa!

Guacamole
2 avocados
1/4 cup light sour cream
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 onion chopped
handful of cilantro, washed and chopped
juice of 1/2 lime
1-2 tbs salsa
salt and pepper to taste

mash avocados to desired consistency (like like mine mostly smooth, but with a few lumps). mix in sour cream, garlic, onion, cilantro, lime juice, salsa, and salt and pepper. best if you let sit for at least 30 minutes before serving. cover with plastic wrap (touching the guacamole to prevent browning).