Chicken Pot Pie

I have been meaning to make chicken pot pies for quite some time. I love pot pies, but store-bought/frozen ones are LOADED with sodium. I think it was the September issue of Cooking Light that had it on the front, it inspired me. But I always forget to look at my magazines when meal planning. Well my Tyler Florence Real Kitchen cookbook also had a pot pie recipe in it. Since I had the book out for the dim sum, I actually remembered to buy the stuff for it!

Tyler's recipe is pretty detailed and calls for roasting a whole chicken, making your own chicken stock, cooking for 12 people etc... Well, sometimes I like to simplify things. So here is my recipe for Chicken Pot Pies

2 chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces

Frozen mixed veggies

Sliced mushrooms

3 cups of chicken broth

1/4 cup of butter

2/3 cup of flour

S&P

Other seasonings: Thyme & Rosemary, fresh or dried

1 sheet Puff Pastry

Spray skillet with Misto Olive Oil. Add chicken & cook until no longer pink.

Remove chicken, add mushrooms until slightly softened.

Cook vegetables ( I use the steamfresh frozen veggies).

In a pot, melt the butter. Whisk in flour to form the "roux". Gradually add chicken broth. Bring to simmer for 10-15 minutes until sauce thickens. I also added the S&P & spices at this time.

(I used 4 cups of chicken broth & it was kind of runny, so I ended up making more roux in a separate pan & adding it to my mixture) Tyler says it should look like cream of chicken soup.

Mix everything together, minus the puff pastry.

Lay out the puff pastry & place your ramekins on top, cut out the "top". With my recipe I was able to make 2 medium sized ramekins & 3 small ramekins.

Spray the inside of the ramekins & place on a baking sheet.
Fill with the mixture & top with the puff pastry.

Brush the pastry with egg whites & sprinkle with cheese. I had Parmesan on hand so I used that.

Bake for about 20 mins on 350F or until the pastry is browned. Let cool, these suckers are HOT!

These were awesome!! I love that you can really do whatever you'd like with this recipe. Make it vegetarian by using veggie stock & loads of vegetables. Make a turkey pot pie & add sweet potatoes or red potatoes. Or beef pot pie with just carrots & peas. I hadn't intended for there to be leftovers (my fridge is full) But I was so thankful that I had 3 small containers left because it was very good!

Help Me!!!

Holy green tomatoes!!!

We harvested our garden over the weekend, as the first frost hit KC. So now I have like 3lbs of green tomatoes.
Any recipes? Any ideas of what to do with these??

Thanks!

Apple Pumpkin Bread

I picked up a Weight Watchers cookbook at the library the last time I was there. I have a few friends who are on WW & send me recipes. They all look good-but do they taste good?

Not so the case with the pumpkin apple bread. I don't have the recipe with me, but i don't even think I will post it. The bread was pretty bland to say the least. You would think, pumpkin bread would be bursting with flavor. Nope not really.

We even tried to top it with homemade whipped butter, flavored with McCormick pumpkin spice and whipped cream cheese, flavored with pumpkin spice. Nada. Nothing did the trick. It tasted like flour.

But it took some good pics!

Dim Sum Part Two

Next up was the Pork Dumpling Soup with Chinese Greens

Pork Filling
3/4 pund ground pork
1/4 lb shiitake mushrooms, stems removed (again, couldnt find, so I used portobello)
1/2 med turnip (I was scared & omitted this. I dont think I like turnips)
1 green onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 Tbsp fresh grated ginger
1/2 bunch of cilantro
1 egg white
2 tsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
2 tsp sherry
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper

Broth
3 qts Chicken Stock (I used 1 1/2 quarts of low sodium chicken broth)
1/4 cup of low sodium soy sauce (I meant to use less but forgot)
2 inch piece of ginger, cut in half (I just grated a 1 inch piece)
4 garlic cloves, smashed (I used 2)
2 green onions
1 dried red chile (I didnt have this so I omitted it)

Dumplings
Wonton Wrappers
1 egg white
4 head bok choy (I used 2 heads)
1/4 lb shiitake mushrooms (I used portobello)

Pulse the filling ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Set aside.
In a large pot, simmer all broth ingredients together for 10 mins. Turn to low & cover.
Lay wonton wrappers on the counter. Brush with egg whit & drop 2 tsp of prok filling in the center. Fold in half to form a triangle. Press the sides together to get rid of air bubbles, then seal tightly. You can continue to fold this into more of a "Pope's Hat" if you desire, I was hungry.

Once all wrappers are full, strain the soup broth to remove the solids. Bring the soup to a simmer over meidum high heat. Add dumplings and boil for 12 minutes. Add the bok choy & mushrooms, continue to simmer for 3 minutes.

My Notes: This makes like 50 dumplings, no lie. For 2 people, I dont think so. So, with the extra filling, I made pot stickers.

Along with the above, I had some dipping sauces for the pot stickers & the buddha delights.
Sorry no pictures of these but here is what I used:
Hot N Sweet
1/8 cup of low sodium soy sauce
1/8 cup of rice vinegar
2 Tbsp honey
1 Tsp Sriracha Sauce

Chinese Mustard Sauce
1/8 cup of low sodium soy sauce
1/8 cup of rice vinegar
1 Tbsp dijon mustard
1 Tbsp Sriracha Sauce

Basic Dipping Sauce
1/4 cup of low sodium soy sauce
1/8 cup of rice vinegar
Fresh Squeezed lemon juice
Sriracha Sauce to taste

So like I said, and as you can see, this is quite time consuming, but not hard. I like the Buddha Delights a lot and think they would make a great appetizer for cocktail party, especially great for vegetarians.

Dim Sum Any One?

Awhile back I made pot stickers one night. Pot stickers happens to be one of my husband's favorite foods, so being able to make them at home (and taste good) was quite an accomplishment for me. As many of you fellow foodies know, wonton wrappers come in quite a large package. Well the best part is you can freeze them so they dont go bad!!
While I was menu planning last week, I was looking through my new fave cookbook, Tyler Florence's Real Kitchen, he has a whole section on Dim Sum. I read through it and thought, well this doesn't seem too hard. Time consuming, yes, but not difficult. Originally, the Hubs & I had planned to go to a wine tasting on Saturday, but we were so exhausted from staining our fence & other household chores, we decided to stay home.
So what better to do with a Saturday night & a little extra time? Try out the dim sum.

From the cookbook, I chose the "Buddha's Delight" & the "Pork Dumpling Soup with Chinese Greens". I'll denote my changes in green.

Buddha's Delight

Vegetable Filling
Sesame Oil
2 garlic cloves minced
1" piece of fresh ginger, grated
1 leek, well washed & chopped
1 head baby bok chok, chopped (I used bok choy)
1/2 cup shiitake mushrooms (I couldnt find these at the store, so I used portobello)
1 carrot, chopped
1/2 bunch of cilantro
S&P
2 egg whites
1 Tbsp cornstarch

For the dumplings
Wonton Wrappers
1 egg white beaten
Canola Oil, for brushing steamer (used olive oil mist spray)
Savoy Cabbge for lining the steamer (opps I forgot this)

Heat a large skillet with sesame oil. Add garlic & ginger to pan and stir for 1 minute. Add leek, bok choy, mushrooms, carrot & cilantro. Seasonw ith S&P. Cook for about 5 mins or until the veggies soften. (took at least 10 mins for me)Remove from heat & cool to room temperature. Scrape the veggie mixture into a food processor, add the egg whites & the conrstarch. Pulse until the filling it it holds together.
(Mine never did, I ended up using my seieve strainer to get rid of the extra liquid. I would use 1 egg white next time)

Lay wonton wrappers on the counter. Brush with egg white. Drop 1 Tbsp of filling into center. Fold wrapper over & seal. Repeat with wonton wrappers until you run out of filling.

Tyler recommends you use a bamboo steamer. I do not have a bamboo steamer so I used my metal one. Spray the steamer with olive oil so the dumplings don't stick. Here you should line the steamer with the cabbage. (I didnt do this) Place dumplings in steamer, so they do not touch (I fit about 7) Bring about 1-2 inches of water to a boil in your pot. Place steamer on top & cover. Steam for about 10-12 minutes.
Repeat with remainder of the dumplings.
Next time notes: line the steamer with the cabbage. My dumplings stuck regardless of what I did.

Potato Soup

One of our favorite fall soups is Potato Soup. However, potato soup can be so bad for you-the cream, the butter, etc... Just all around high fat, high carb meal.

I checked around the Internet in search of a better-for-you potato soup. I sort of combined one I found on Weight Watchers & one from Cooking Light. The Weight Watchers recipe had you use chicken broth as opposed to milk. I didn't think that sounded quite right. But it also had you roast garlic & mash the pulp with the potatoes. So I went with that idea. Cooking light had me using 2% milk & low fat/no fat sour cream. Anyway, this tasted just like the real thing.

Here is my recipe, formed by combining WW & CL:

About 8 potatoes, peeled & diced

1 head of garlic

2/3 cup flour

about 6 cups 2% milk

1 cup reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese

green onions

1 cup reduced fat sour cream

S&P

6 slices of bacon

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Wrap the garlic in foil & place in oven for about 45 minutes or until the pulp is mushy.

Boil potatoes in water until soft. (You can also bake the potatoes in the oven with the garlic if desired)

Meanwhile, cook the bacon in a separate skillet until crunchy & crumbly.

Drain potatoes & mash them with some of the roasted garlic pulp. (We like our soup with chunks, so I only mashed half of them) .
In a dutch oven, add flour, gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until well blended. Cook over medium heat until it thickens. DO NOT BOIL!

Add potatoes, 3/4 cup of cheese, S&P, sour cream, half of the bacon & half of the onions. Cook until cheese melts, over low heat.

Sprinkle with cheese, onions & bacon before serving.

This made SOOOO much soup. I think we ended up having close to 8-9 1 cup servings.

Pork Chops with Golden Apple Sauce

I have had this recipe forever and finally found time to make it! When I was little, we always had applesauce with our pork. The Hubs said he had never heard of this. So I think my mom just put applesauce on the pork so that we would eat it.
This is a more grown-up/gourmet take on that.

Pork Chops with Golden Apple Sauce

4 golden delicious apples* I only used 2 apples & had at least 4 cups worth of sauce
2 tsp lemon juice
2 ounces raisins*I probably added 1 full cup
1-inch piece of ginger root
3 Tbsp brown sugar
2 cups cider or apple juice
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp olive oil
4 pork chops
Salt & Pepper
2 Tbsp butter

Combine the first 8 ingredients in a medium sized pot & bring to boil, reduce to low heat & let simmer so the sauce thickens.
Heat a large skillet over medium high heat-add oil. Season one side of the pork chops with S&P. Place seasoned side down in the pan. While that side is browning, season the other side. Flip pork chop over so the other side browns. After about 4 mins, reduce heat & cook until juices run clear or no pink shows.
Remove pork chops from pan to let rest. Increase temperature to medium high. Add apple juice/cider & butter to the pan & deglaze. Pour sauce over the chops. Remove ginger from the sauce & top chops with the sauce.

I served this with Parmesan couscous & broccoli. I really enjoyed this meal. It was all around pretty healthy & had all the elements I like in a meal (starch, veggie, protein)