teacher by day - chef by night
Happy Valentines Day (weekend) Oh, the things we do for love! I had off on Friday to go to the dentist so knew I would have some kitchen time if I wanted and earlier in the week had come across this recipe for Chocolate Chip …
I should have titled this “No, you NEED Bread” A friend sent me this recipe [you NEED to check out her blog – the photos of her son baking this bread are great and you can get the history/adaptations there as well] & I have …
After making French Onion Soup for the first time a few weeks ago, Rich told me that I HAD to make it more often. I wanted to make a nice comforting soup for dinner the other night but knew that a hardy bowl of soup would not be enough for dinner. My ‘Aunt’ gave me beautiful ramekins for Hanukkah (which I had been wanting so badly, but had not even told anyone – that is why family and friends are so awesome, they know what you want without yo even asking!) Ramekins are perfect for frittatas (especially when this just happened to be during my SOS Broken Oven stage). Frittatas and French Onion Soup crocks both fit in the toaster over, and when the meal is rounded out with a french-caesar salad – it is healthy comfort food!
perfect for 2 (make more if you want to serve more people), give it a shot & don’t be shy. This stuff is delicious!
Salad – greens & some of your toasted bread from soup & dressing made of: french mustard, olive oil, red wine vinegar, garlic, salt, pepper & make it yours!
Frittata (this version) – mushrooms, broccoli, cheese (feta & cheddar) in buttered ramekin. Then pour your egg/milk mixture on top & bake. This is another one of those things that you can just kind of do to taste & can’t mess it up too bad.
DON’T be afraid in the kitchen: when cooking there is little that you can to completely mess it all up. Have fun & cozy up with some yummy treats on a cold day (or this works for those warm days too!)
When I found out that my custodian (who is wonderful and amazing) got a deer last month I so graciously offered to take some meat off of his hands if he ran out of room in his freezer. A few weeks later he walked into …
I don’t even like Pot Pie… I have told Rich that since we first started dating (and too bad for him, because he loves pot pie)! As much as he loves Pot Pie, I guess I might love him (eww barf – I know!) because I decided to put my hate of cooked veggies & pot pie to the test and make him one of his “favorite” foods. I made some changes here – which its Pot Pie – you can do that! I hate hate hate peas & cooked carrots – so they didn’t go in there (I used green beans instead of peas & actually cut up 3 whole baby carrots to put in there, just to push myself a little more – I know mom, I willingly put carrots into something that was getting cooked)!
(As adapted from Closet Cooking– congrats to Kevin for making his own pie crust, and as a side note: I now have this blog bookmarked because check out some of those “top recipes”… yeah, thats what I’m talking about!)
2 tablespoons butter
1 onion (chopped)
2 stalks celery (chopped)
1 small small carrot (chopped)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 cup milk
1 pound cooked chicken (shredded)
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 cup frozen/canned green beans
1 cup canned corn
salt and pepper to taste
2 pre-made Pillsbury crusts
Directions:
Melt the butter in a large pan. Add the onions, celery, and carrots and cook until tender, about 10-15 minutes. Mix in the flour and let it cook for a minute. Carefully mix in the chicken stock followed by the milk. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the chicken, thyme, green beans, corn and season with salt and pepper. Pour the filling into a pie dish with the bottom crust laid inside (read the box for help here if you need it. Place the 2nd pie dough over the pie plate and fold any excess under itself. Seal the top and bottom crusts. Cut [3] 1-inch slits on the top. Place the pie onto a baking sheet and bake in a preheated 400F oven until the crust is golden brown, about 25 minutes.
Surprises of Surprises – I LIKED IT! (My parent’s first dog was Mikey – like the Life commercial, this way in case mom made something dad hated: they could feed it to the dog & say “Mikey likes it”). The flavors all worked, there were veggies I liked – and Pot Pie is no longer something I will say “eww” to (as long as the right veggies are in there!)
I leave you with this: Force yourself to try something new – go out of your comfort zone – take a chance… some of the best things in life come when you say ‘why the heck not’!
*and don’t forget to comment & explore the blog
