Chicken Pot Pie

Has it really been four months since I last posted here? My goodness. Fret not, I have been cooking for my hubby and been trying out new recipes. Unfortunately, the taking pictures-writing descriptions- updating blog portion of it has not been easy at all. I guess it's low on the list of priorities with everything else that's been going on.

I've just finished up my first month of vacation and getting ready to start the second, so we'll see how much I can update by then. Tonight H came over for dinner and I tried out a recipe from my new "old" cookbook -- chicken pot pie. The recipe came from an old Betty Crocker cookbook I got from my aunt - it's "vintage" from a used bookstore, looks like it was published in the 1970's. She swears it's much better than the cookbooks that are published now because it's more home-cooking, with better ingredients. They're not afraid of butter and shortening, she says. :)

Anyway, this recipe tonight was so delicious -- Damon rated it one of his favorites. The only problem was, home cooking takes a while. So it's a good thing I'm on vacation.

The crust was good, but I think if the dough was chilled and less worked it would've been more flaky. It used shortening -- I used a Crisco shortening that's supposed to taste like butter. I am much more a fan of butter-based pie crusts, although I don't know if there's an answer to that age-old debate.

The filling was very simple -- start with a roux of flour, butter, salt and pepper, then add cooked chicken and a frozen veggie mix. I pan fried 4 chicken breasts in olive oil with salt and pepper for the recipe and it was yum.

Next time I'll go a little easy on the chicken since it didn't all fit! The picture above was half of the pot pie that was left over by the time we finished. I didn't expect to update so I didn't bother taking photos before the meal. I used the leftovers to make a couple of "mini" pot pies. I ran out of dough, though, so those just have a top crust, no bottom layer.

Meal Plan

This week's meal plan:

Monday - Fish Tacos, chips and salsa
Tuesday - Pork Loin, green beans, butter rice
Wednesday - Tri-Tip, salad, scalloped potatoes
Thursday - leftovers
Friday - breakfast for dinner: waffles, sausage, and eggs with cheese a la Rachael Ray


I really need to catch up on blogging here, but I always forget to take pictures. Too hungry to remember :P Let's see how many I blog this week.

Easter Brunch

Told you I was behind. Just a couple of photos of our first Easter hosted as newly weds. Lots of food and so much fun! :)

Pictured above -- yogurt & granola parfaits in plastic martini cups, homemade quiche lorraine (my favorite brunch recipe ever!), sausage, and country potatoes.


We had a green and yellow theme so I used a basket, napkins, cups and flowers in those colors. My family brought baked goods, dessert, and an edible arrangements "bouquet" of fresh fruit. Damon and I also picked out hummus and veggies, spinach dip, and parmaesan cheese crackers to add to the spread. What a glutton I am!

Chicken Cacciatore

I can't believe I haven't posted this yet! I've already made it twice and it is quickly becoming one of my favorite meals. It comes from my favorite Real Simple cookbook.

Start with some chicken dredged in flour, salt, and pepper. Brown the chicken in a pan with olive oil, about 5 minutes on each side. Then pull 'em out of the pan. I use chicken thighs.


Now, in the same pan, add, 1 chopped onion, 1 carrot, 1 stalk of celery, 4 cloves of finely chopped garlic, 3 sprigs of thyme, and a bay leaf. (I added way more than that to increase the veggie factor).


Cook the veggies for about 10 minutes. Now add a 28 ounce can of crushed plum tomatoes. Stir. Add the chicken back in. Add 1/3 cup of dry red wine (I used a cab) -- this is the best best BEST part, I swear! That red wine taste mixed with the tomato....ohhhhh this is killing me now.


Let the chicken cook for about 45 minutes at a low simmer while it takes on that to-die-for tomato sauce flavor. So.darn.good! Make sure you flip the chicken over every so often so that it cooks all over!

I serve it with pasta. Stir in some parsley just before you serve and your dinner companion will thank you. :)

Steak and Potatoes

I'm getting so sick of steak. It's so unoriginal, so meaty. And I'm not very good at it :|

I ended up making a dry rub with paprika, garlic salt, ground cumin, and red pepper flakes. After brushing the steak with olive oil, I rubbed it with the spices on both sides, added some salt and pepper, and baked in the oven at 350 degrees. The rest of the rub I tossed around in a bag with some chopped potatoes as a side dish. Yummy!

Strawberry Cupcakes

A few days ago I found myself very very very bored. So baking time it was! :) I discovered this take on a Sprinkles Cupcake on the Martha Stewart site and decided to try it out. Since it used real fruit (fresh or frozen) it intrigued me -- plus, I could use a low-cost alternative to my pricey Sprinkles addiction.

The recipe was really easy, although a bit time-consuming. But how rewarding in the end! The cake was yummy moist and strawberry-y. The icing was a bit too buttery for me, so I think I'd have to play with it some more to get it to the consistency I like. Oh, and I halved the recipe for the icing because I always end up with extra -- good thing I did because I had enough to frost a dozen cupcakes and take a few sneaks from the bowl! =X

These were too good but I knew I had to keep my caloric intake in mind so Damon took them to work for me. Can't wait to make these again! :)

Roast Beef

Wow it's been a long time since I've posted. I'm so behind on all the things I've made, but I've got lots of pictures to help me remember.

This was last night's dinner. I used a 2.8 pound cut of beef, cooked in the oven at 400 degrees for about an hour and a half. I cooked it on a baking sheet after rubbing olive oil, cracked pepper, and sea salt on it. The beef was surrounded by chopped onions, red potatoes, carrots, and celery also coated with oil, pepper, and salt.

See those black things? Those are the vegetables. Take it as proof that investing in good kitchenware is a must. After Damon and I got married I had no baking things, and, thinking that I'd save us some money, I picked up a hefty baking sheet from Kohls. It sucks. Actually, it burns. Everything and anything I put on it. :( So sad. Despite the charred bits, though, these veggies were yummy. They took on the flavor of the beef quite well.

I also made a side of green beans -- fresh, mm! I steamed them in a skillet filled with about a half inch of water until tender, then drained them and sauteed them with a bit of olive oil, salt, pepper, and thyme.

Next time I need to pull the roast out a bit earlier -- it came out medium well which was fine, but a bit dry.

Mapo Tofu (Mabo Tofu)

I made this ages ago, but it's actually on the menu for tomorrow night. Mapo (or mabo, as I know it) tofu from SCRATCH! =D yes, baby!

I used the Cooking Light recipe that I found after browsing blogs. I increased the chili sauce to about 4 teaspoons because I knew how much Damon liked spicy. And we used white rice because, hey I'm not healthy. :P

Tempura

I used Shirakiku brand mix to make this -- AGES ago. Yes, I used a mix darn it. It's a lot of work, this dinner!

I made miso soup, a pot of rice, and fried up:

- carrots
- shrimp
-broccoli
- eggplant
- zucchini
- green beans


The key is to keep the batter extremely cold -- on a bed of ice, so that it stays lacy and crisp. It's yum, but oh is it a lot of work. Not for a fast weeknight.

Chicken Karaage

I didn't take a picture of tonight's disaster. Ugh.

Chicken Karaage is Japanese style fried chicken -- it's sort of sweet and has a soy sauce base. I found a recipe on justJENN's blog and tried it out. Made the marinade last night, put the chicken in the fridge, and fried it up when I got home.

The one thing I have NEVER been able to make is fried chicken. I can bake a "fried" chicken okay, but actually fry it in oil? Forget it. And of course, one of Damon's favorites is...what else? Fried damn chicken. -___-

The marinade was fine (1/4 cup cornstarch, 1/4 cup flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 10 tablespoons of soy sauce, 2 eggs, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, garlic, and pepper). It even smelled good (since when do marinades smell good?)

The problem is always the frying. I used drumsticks, heated up the oil, and popped those suckers in. Within two minutes they were verging on dark brown to black. The first two I left in there longer than I should have and they were...uh...crispy. The next two I pulled out as soon as they were a nice golden brown color, but when I cut them open they were RAW like sushi. DisGUSTING.

I microwaved them all for another 15 minutes to "save" dinner. That was pure crap. (But the parts that weren't burned were yummy).

I need to use smaller pieces of chicken so that I don't burn them. But how do other people make fried chicken without burning it?

Bobby Flay is doing a fried-chicken competition as we speak. I will watch and hopefully learn.

Lemon Oregano Chicken

I found this recipe on the internet at a blog I like to browse, justJENN. It was relatively simple, I made the marinate the night before and just cooked the chicken once I got home.

1. Mix: olive oil (1/4 c.), the juice of half a lemon, pepper, garlic salt, and 2 teaspoons oregano. (The recipe called for 2 teaspoons of garlic salt, but this savory-loving girl will add more next time).
2. Bake in the oven at 450 degrees, 15 minutes on each side, pouring the extra marinate on top.

This one came out only okay. The lemon taste was really strong -- I think I need to lighten up on the marinate time, the amount of lemon juice, or increase the other flavors. I'm wondering how a little butter would be on top. I think part of the problem was that I used chicken breast instead of chicken thighs. Que sera, sera...

Served with white rice and something green -- green beans probably. And a zucchini dish that I will blog about later because it deserves it's own post. :)

Tri-Tip turned Burritos

Damon apparently showed his co-workers my cooking blog. I now feel the pressure to be entertaining. Crap. =X Hi Sonal! :)

Yesterday I was talking about how hard it is for me to use up leftovers. We seriously toss out TONS of food from week to week because there's j/too much of it to eat. My coworker asked me why I don't just serve it again, but I told her I get bored easily. Take that tri-tip I made on Monday. It's been sitting in the fridge because I don't want to microwave it and serve it again. Damon took some of it in a sandwich on Tuesday and there's still a huge hunk left. She told me to just change it up -- serve it with a different side dish, throw it in another main dish, whatever. She says she always uses her meat to do tacos, fajitas, flautas, whatever, and a roast will last her to Wednesday. Genius, I say!

I had put some leftover chicken drumsticks that I had frozen to defrost yesterday -- I was planning on trying out a recipe for chicken karaage (Japanese style fried chicken). But when I came home today (an entire hour late), I found that it was supposed to have marinated for 5 hours. Oops. So here it was, 5:50, Damon's going to be coming home in 10 minutes and I had nothing to make for dinner. But then I remember my conversation with said co-worker. After rummaging through the pantry and the fridge I came up with dinner:

Tri-tip burritos with Spanish rice! And it took all of 10 minutes:

- I cut up the leftover tri-tip and heated it in a skillet for about 10 minutes with some paprika and cuming to make it more burrito-like.
- Damon chopped lettuce
- heated a can of beans
- made the spanish rice
- took cheese and salsa out of the fridge



Super low-budget, entirely unhealthy and not at all gourmet. But hey, it's food!

Note to self: I should've added some chopped onions to the meat to really pick up the flavor of the paprika and cumin. The meat didn't absorb the flavor as much since it was already cooked.

Pork Chops with Lemony Bread Crumbs

I've been feeling very uninspired in my cooking lately. I was having trouble coming up with fresh ideas so over the weekend I pulled out my cookbooks and decided that I'd try at least one new recipe once a week.

This week's try-out is from my Real Simple Cookbook: Pork Chops with Lemony Bread Crumbs. The recipes in this cookbook are by no means gourmet -- they're j/simple recipes that can be done ahead of time or with minimal preparation -- which means it's perfect for my day to day cooking experiments :)

This one was very simple, and pretty good --

1) Season some thin cut pork chops with salt and pepper, and pan fry in olive oil, 2 minutes on each side.

2) Transfer to a baking pan, cover with a jar of tomato sauce.

3) Top with a mixture of bread crumbs (1/2 c), the zest of one lemon, 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh sage, salt and pepper.

4) Bake in the oven (350 degrees) for about 10 - 15 minutes.

I added some green beans and a Parmesan rice (instant, but again, free!!!).

One of these days I have to do a post about my coupon-ing. I am seriously obsessed with lowering the grocery bill.

Poached Salmon

Okay, one last post for the night. I made this I dunno HOW long ago. It was hella good, though!

Salmon filet, adapted from a recipe by Giada of the Food Network. Take the filets and coat them in some olive oil, salt and pepper. Wrap them in foil with a squirt of lemon juice, chopped tomatoes, chopped shallots, and sprinkles of thyme and oregano. Seal the packets closed and cook them in the oven, 400 degrees for about half an hour. So yummy and so healthy!!

I served it with wild rice and soup.

Easy Chicken Dinner

Last week I was SO tired but I needed to cook. I was low on the groceries and so uninspired -- so I threw the meal together and it ended up being a really great meal that was so easy to do. I'll have to remember this for the future when I am short on time.

Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees and put in --

1. a casserole dish with betty crocker au gratin potatoes (instant, but it was free!)
2. a casserole dish with asparagus, drizzled with olive oil, salt, and cracked pepper
3. a baking pan with chicken breasts seasoned with salt, cracked pepper, oregano, and a drizzle of lemon juice and olive oil

Soooo easy! And minimal dishes! Perfection, I tell you! Everything finished at different times, so you've got to be careful. My asparagus were tiny and thin so they only needed about 10 - 15 minutes roasting time. The potatoes I think were 20 minutes and the chicken about...half an hour or so? Definitely a repeat for a lazy weeknight.

Roasted Beef Tri-Tip

Tri-Tip was on sale this weekend, $1.99 a pound. I bought a smaller cut of meat, about 2.25 pounds and set off to experiment. This was tonights' dinner. We just finished eating and I wanted to blog before I forgot what I did.

I consulted with my dad, my cooking expert, who told me how he cooks it and sent me some recipes. All of them called for a marinate of some sort which I obviously didn't have time to do, but I did end up following one recipe's method. So, here goes...

I seasoned the meat first with seasoning salt, sea salt, and cracked black pepper. Rubbed it on all sides, then popped it in a pre-heated 450 degree oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, I turned the oven down to 350 degrees, covered the roasting pan with foil, and put it in for another 15 minutes. Then, take off the foil and let it cook another 20 minutes. Take it out of the oven, cover with foil, and let sit 15 minutes. Slice thinly. For dinner I served it with a side of mushroom cream sauce pasta (instant crap that I burned -- oops), a salad, and corn.

Next time, I want to season it with some herbs or something. It was missing a good flavor. Or perhaps I will rub it with a clove of garlic. Yes, that might be delicious. Timing worked out pretty well -- the smaller edges were a bit tough, but the inside was a perfect medium rare -- still a little bloody. mmmm....

Bacon wrapped asparagus

I made this as a side-dish to go with some cheater spaghetti. Hubby's mom gifted us with several jars of spaghetti sauce that I've been trying to get through.

My mom ALWAYS sautees asparagus. Well, lo and behold, a little internet search showed me that I could indeed ROAST asparagus in the oven!! So, I took a few spears of asparagus each, wrapped it in some of el cheapo bacon we bought from Ralphs (nice and thick so it's quite good). Drizzle with olive oil, pepper, salt, and sprinkle some chopped shallots on top. So.darn.good.com! Waaay better than pan frying -- it doesn't get that weird...metallic taste. Do you know what I'm talking about?

Stuffed Chicken

This dinner was a test-run for a dinner get-together than never happened. My bad. I got the basic idea from my latest Rachel Ray magazine (I think for February) but I will definitely tweak it for next time.

I made mashed potatoes (about 4 smallish medium red potatoes, I believe) with skim milk, butter, salt, and pepper. Added lemon rind but I think some grated parmesan cheese would be even better. Oh and some chopped sun dried tomatoes would give the potatoes a little kick I think.

Seasoned the chicken with salt and pepper, and spooned some of the mashed potato underneath the skin. Drizzled olive oil over the chicken and sprinkled with some more pepper and...shoot, thyme? Rosemary? I don't remember :\ Anyway, I also added to Rachel's recipe by baking the chicken over a veggie medley of carrot, celery, and onion. I don't have a roasting rack, so putting the chicken on top of something helps me to avoid that nasty mushy unappetizing chicken crap that you get if you would bake the chicken in a pan like mine.

Anyway, it was hella good, although I think it could be improved. It needs a little something to make it really *pop*.

I served this with garlic bread that I made from some leftover hot dog buns (don't you hate how there are always more buns than dogs?) and the leftover potatoes.

Chicken "Tortilla" Soup

I made this for dinner one night to go with some simple burritos. I love love LOVE soup in the winter.

I took a recipe from an old cookbook I had -- that one just called for chicken broth simmered with tomatoes, cumin, salt, and pepper. F that I say! I also added a carrot, 2 stalks of celery, and onion to simmer with the yummylicious tomato/chicken broth base. The flavors of the veggies really mix together wonderfully. On top I added a few slices of avocado (obviously) and some chopped fresh cilantro. Cumin is really the secret ingredient here -- it is so spicy and flavorful! I forget the exact measurements but I think it was 4 cups of broth, and I used about 3 medium tomatoes. Salt, pepper, and cumin to taste.

"Tortilla" is in quotes because normally I bake a tortilla into little chips but I was too lazy to do so this time.

Simple Pork Chops

This one was a no-brainer dinner. It's been tough for me to make new things or come up with something really yummy for dinner because, quite frankly, when I get home from work the last thing I want to do is cook up a crazy dinner.

The pork chops were seasoned with black pepper and coarse salt, I think. I put it in the pan for a few minutes on each side, then added some water and simmered until done. Simple, but edible. :)

I sauteed some sliced apples to go with the pork chops but I should've added more sugar. Or not used granny smith. It was okay, but not sweet enough.

The broccoli sucked @$$. I can't make decent broccoli for the life of me.

Oyako Donburi

Damon loves this dish. So do I, although I can't make it as well as my mommy :(

Oyako literally means adult and child. Hence, the chicken and the egg. Donburi is just any kind of rice bowl, basically. So this is a chicken and egg ricebowl.

I made it from memory last night but couldn't get the flavors quite right. I needed to add more soy sauce, I think. Or I might've added too much water. Anyway, here's the run down:

- prep rice in the rice cooker
- combine dashi soup stock, soy sauce, mirin, and sugar to make a liquid mixture (this is the hard part 'cause you have to play around with the portions to get it right. i obviously did not).
- throw in pieces of chicken breast and sliced onion and let it simmer until the onions are soft and the chicken is cooked thoroughly.
- spoon out some of the chicken and onion onto a small, hot pan.
- surround the chicken with a beaten egg and make an almost omelet (it should be a little runny), add some of the soy sauce mixture
- slide the egg/chicken/onion omelet-like creation onto a bowl of rice, pour more of the soy sauce mixture over the donburi as you like.

I topped with green onion and served with fried tofu (tofu dredged in white flour, topped with green onion and soy sauce).


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Hm. This dinner really lacked color.

Valentine's Day Steak Dinner

I am so behind on this blog. Where did January go?? I was sick. And married. No relation, obviously.

Anyway, I have tons of pictures stored on the computer, lots of dinners to write about, but just haven't had the time to post. I guess I'll have to go backwards.

Hubby was really sweet about Valentine's Day this year -- he sent me gorgeous flowers at work, so I decided to cook up something extra special for dinner that night.

On the menu --

- oven roasted potatoes
- pepper crusted filet mignon
- slow roasted tomatoes



The potatoes were yummy -- I just cut up some white potatoes, drizzled them with olive oil, and sprinkled with sea salt, cracked pepper, and rosemary. I didn't put them in soon enough, so even at 450 degrees they needed at least another 15 minutes to be nice and soft. They were still a little raw in the middle, but, cest la vie.

Tomatoes were sooo good. I love roasted tomatoes. I used Roma tomatoes sliced in half lengthwise. Drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with thyme. Put them in the oven at a low heat (I think I did around 275 degrees) and let them roast until they collapse. It took about 45 minutes for me and my oven.

The steaks were the first steaks that were semi-successful for me. I seriously don't know how to cook meat. I coated the filets with lots and lots of cracked pepper and some sea salt. I cooked them in olive oil in a hot pan about 7 minutes on each side. I burned the first side (D always is paranoid about uncooked meat so I went overboard). The second side was much more successful (and photogenic) :) I'll have to watch them more carefully next time. Oh and D's ended up a little rarer than I would've liked. Increase the time for one of his thickness.

Seriously though I was impressed by myself even :) And it was so easy!