Chicken Pot Pie

I love chicken pot pie. I grew up eating frozen chicken pot pie--we only got to have it when my parents went out for the evening. My brothers, sister and I thought it  was a real treat. The real treat is the chicken pot pie you make at home--it tastes the best.

If you use a rotisserie or leftover chicken and a prepared, purchased pie crust, you can save a lot of time and energy. Or, make them the day ahead.

Chicken Pot Pie

serves 6 to 8

2 Tablespoons olive oil (or butter), plus 1 T butter

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium sweet onion, diced

3 cups diced celery

3 cups chopped carrots

1 cup diced potatoes

1 cup peas

1 lb. mushrooms, sliced

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

4-6 cups chicken stock

1 bay leaf

4 cups cooked chicken, cut or shredded into bite-sized pieces

1 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons corn starch, if needed

1 teaspoon dried thyme

salt and pepper to taste

2 prepared pie crusts

1 egg plus 1 Tablespoon milk

Chop all vegetables. I think it's a good idea to use any vegetables you might have as leftovers too.

Saute the vegetables, minus the peas, in 2 tablespoons olive oil or butter until softened but not browned, about 10 minutes. Remove from pot and set aside. Then saute the mushrooms in 1 tablespoon butter until lightly browned. Return vegetables to the pot and add 1/4 cup flour and stir until well-combined, about 1 minute over medium heat. 

Add chicken broth, stirring constantly, and bring to simmer. Add bay leaf, dried thyme and season with salt and pepper.

Add cooked chicken, peas and cream, return pot to simmer. Adjust thickness of broth if necessary--in a cup, mix 2 tablespoons cornstarch with 2 tablespoons water--add a little at a time to pot, while stirring, to thicken gravy. Cook for a few minutes more to cook the cornstarch. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Next, the pie crust. My friend Laura gave me a recipe for pie crust years and years ago and I'm still using it. I make it in the food processor so it's easy. Put 3 cups all-purpose flour into the processor bowl with 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 1/3 cups shortening. Pulse, sparingly, until shortening is cut into the flour--it only takes a few short pulses. Transfer dough into another bowl and add 1 egg, 5 tablespoons of ice-cold water and 1 tablespoon vinegar. Mix gently until combined. Divide into three balls and refrigerate.

Using prepared or homemade pie crust, roll out dough between two pieces of waxed or parchment paper to about 1/4 inch. I found an ochawan (a rice bowl) that was about the right size for the ramekins--with a little bit of crust draping over the edge.

Cut pie crust to size of ramekins plus about 1-inch. Make 1 pie crust for each ramekin.

Fill ramekins. Moisten edge of ramekins and place pie crust on top, pressing gently to seal. Cut 4 slits into crust and garnish with thyme leaves. In a small bowl, beat 1 egg with 1 tablespoon milk. Lightly brush over crusts. This will give the crusts a golden-brown color.

Place ramekins on baking sheet and bake in 400ºF oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until golden brown and filling is bubbling.

While the chicken pot pies are baking, I clean up the kitchen.

Itadakimasu!

***

Meet Kelly and Erik. They're friends--and also relatives. Kelly must be in about 1st grade in this photo, and Erik in 3rd.

It's been a lot of fun watching them grow into adults. You might remember Kelly from my Beef Dip Sandwiches post. Kelly is talented at thrifting. She combs the thrift stores for items she can modify into things she can use.

Erik is an artist. He has always loved drawing and worked for a company doing marketing and designs for clothing. Now he's started a business called Cloud Kicker Society--a lifestyle brand for the Vapers. The website is coming soon.

He also loves music and used to be a DJ. Erik is soft-spoken and funny. He can cook, too.

Erik and Kelly's mother, Meg, recently retired and the whole family celebrated her retirement and birthday at a gathering over the weekend.

Every month, this part of our family has a gathering. The get-togethers  are so much fun and insure that the family will all know one another and stay close.

The parties have a theme for the pot-luck dinners--which adds more fun seeing and tasting what everyone makes. You might remember the Cajun-themed dinner featured on my Easy Oven Roux Gumbo post.

That's Mako on the left. He's the one that notifies everyone of the parties and themes. Every family needs a person willing to be one that keeps everyone in-touch. Thank you, Mako, for being that person!

Nancy, Jessica, Rick and Maria are enjoying the festivities.

Lena, Garrett, Meg (and I) are talking about wedding preparations. Lena and Garrett and getting married later this year--I'm so excited!

I finally got the opportunity to meet David, Brianna's boyfriend. Brianna is working on a dietetic internship and has a blog! You can find Instant B Play filled with lots of good information on nutrition and a healthy lifestyle.

Sriracha chicken wings and Easy Oven Baked Chipotle Wings were appetizers I brought. I am working on a recipe for the sriracha wings.

My other appetizer was this Homesyle Sushi Bar. This time I added some spam spears and tempura shrimp. The tempura makes for a nice and crunchy temaki--handroll sushi. Serve the sushi bar with a half-sheet of nori so people can make their own sushi the way they like it.

I wonder what the theme of next month's gathering will be!

***

Chicken Pot Pie

serves 6 to 8

2 Tablespoons olive oil (or butter), plus 1 T butter

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium sweet onion, diced

3 cups diced celery

3 cups chopped carrots

1 cup diced potatoes

1 cup peas

1 lb. mushrooms, sliced

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

4-6 cups chicken stock

1 bay leaf

4 cups cooked chicken, cut or shredded into bite-sized pieces

1 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons corn starch, if needed

1 teaspoon dried thyme

salt and pepper to taste

2 prepared pie crusts

1 egg plus 1 Tablespoon milk

In a heavy pot, saute vegetables with 2 tablespoons olive oil or butter over medium heat until vegetables are softened but not browned, about 10 minutes. Remove from pot and set aside.

In the same pot, add 1 tablespoon butter and saute the sliced mushrooms until tender, about 10 minutes. Add the vegetable mixture, add 1/4 cup flour and mix over medium heat until well-combined, about 1 minute. Add chicken broth, stirring constantly, and bring to simmer. Add bay leaf, dried thyme and season with salt and pepper.

Add cooked chicken and cream, return pot to simmer. Adjust thickness of broth if necessary--in a cup, mix 2 tablespoons cornstarch with 2 tablespoons water--add a little at a time to pot, while stirring, to thicken gravy. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Using prepared or homemade pie crust, cut pie crust to size of ramekins plus about 1-inch. Fill ramekins. Moisten edge of ramekins and place pie crust on top, pressing gently to seal. Cut 4 slits into crust and garnish with thyme leaves. Place ramekins on baking sheet and bake in 400ºF oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until golden brown and filling is bubbling.

Corned Beef and Cabbage Soup

What are you having for St. Patrick's Day dinner?

We used to always have corned beef and cabbage with carrots, onions and potatoes. 

Now we're having Corned Beef and Cabbage Soup, a much lighter dinner.

 I posted this corned beef and cabbage two years ago. My husband wants to eat less meat, so we went from this--

To this.

It's also a great way to use up corned beef and cabbage leftovers.

Corned Beef and Cabbage Soup

Ingredients:

1/2 head small cabbage

2 stalks celery with leaves

2 large carrots

6 small red potatoes

1 lb. mushrooms 

1/2 large onion

2 cups chopped, cooked corned beef

6-8 cups cooking liquid from corned beef, defatted

Chop the cabbage, onion, potatoes, carrots, celery and mushrooms.

Add them to a large pot--this one is an 8 quart pot. Add the defatted cooking liquid from the corned beef and add water as needed to cover the vegetables.

I bought a 3 lb. flat-cut boiled corned beef. It yielded about 4 cups shredded/chopped corned beef after I trimmed away all the pockets of fat. I used 2 cups for the soup and froze 2 1-cup portions to use later.

Add the corned beef pieces to the soup pot and simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes.

Season to taste. I used a little cracked pepper, but didn't add any salt. There was enough salt from using the cooking water from the meat.

Garnish with a little fresh thyme if desired.

Itadakimasu!


***


I made a board book for my granddaughter, Rachel.

I've made photo books before, but this is my first board book.

We live far away, and I want Rachel to know us, so I thought a book about us would be helpful.

Take a peek...

It was a lot of fun putting the pages together. I used Pint Size Productions for this book and used their Simple Photo Board Book I, which made it really easy.

I plan on making an extended family version photo book for her in the future, so she'll know how we're all connected.

They grow so fast!

Take lots of pictures!


***

Corned Beef and Cabbage Soup

Ingredients:

1/2 head small cabbage

2 stalks celery with leaves

2 large carrots

6 small red potatoes

1 lb. mushrooms 

1/2 large onion

2 cups chopped, cooked corned beef

6-8 cups cooking liquid from corned beef, defatted

1. Place corned beef into a large pot and cover with cold water. Bring to boil, then cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 2 hours or until tender. Remove meat from pan and defat the liquid by skimming off oils floating on top of the liquid. Shred/chop corned beef and remove visible fat and set aside.

2. Chop all vegetables and put into a large pot. Add 6 to 8 cups of the defatted cooking liquid from the corned beef and add water if necessary to cover the vegetables. Add chopped corned beef and simmer for 30 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.

3. Season to taste; garnish with fresh thyme if desired.

Italian Wedding Soup

I recently had Italian Wedding Soup at an engagement party. It was so delicious, I was inspired to make some. 

Thanks, Dudley, for the inspiration!

Dudley said she used Ina Garten's Italian Wedding Soup recipe. I used what I had on hand--a mixture of kale and baby spinach, ground chicken & ground pork, a random small pasta and canned chicken broth. It didn't seem as good as Dudley's but it was still really good!

Did you know that, according to Wikipedia, the name Italian Wedding Soup comes from the expression in Italian that the meat and greens "marry", or go well together?

I guess that means that they don't serve it at all weddings in Italy.

I think the meat and greens go well together, indeed. I like it with a little shaved parmesan cheese on top.

Italian Wedding Soup

adapted from Ina Garten

Ingredients:

Meatballs:

1/2 lb. ground chicken
1/2 lb. chicken or pork sausage, casings removed
1 cup bread crumbs or dried stuffing mix, moistened with 1/2 cup broth or milk
1/2 cup old fashioned oats
2 cloves minced garlic
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 teaspoons each, chopped thyme and oregano
1/4 cup grated Romano & 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
sea salt and ground pepper to taste

Soup:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup minced onion
1 cup diced celery with leaves
2 cans chicken broth and enough water to make 10 cups
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup small pasta, cooked and drained
1/4 cup minced fresh dill
12 ounces baby spinach or kale, washed, ribs removed from kale

 I snipped this parsley, thyme & oregano from my front yard.

 For the meatballs, mix ingredients in a large bowl.

Form into small meatballs and set aside.

Ina bakes the meatballs for 30 minutes at 350ºF, I dropped mine to cook right into the soup. But that comes later.

 Mince the garlic and finely chop the celery and onion. I used Chinese celery, which is mostly leaves and thin stems. I picked some up at my local Chinese market, it looked so fresh.

Saute the garlic, celery, onion, parsley, thyme and oregano in 2 tablespoons olive oil until wilted, then add the chicken broth, wine and water. I didn't have dill, but it's good with dill.

Boil another pan of water for the noodles, cook & drain.

 When the soup boils, drop in the meatballs and stir gently. When the soup returns to boil, lower heat to medium and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Skim any foam that surfaces to the top and discard.

 Wash spinach and kale. Remove the tough ribs from the kale and tear into bite-sized pieces.

My sister-in-law Nancy always used to tease me for eating kale. She said it was a garnish. Now she says kale is her boyfriend.

 When the noodles are done and drained, and you're ready to serve the soup, add the spinach and kale. Stir gently. It takes less than a minute for the greens to wilt, that's when you want to serve the soup.

Add a sprinkling of pasta and some shaved Parmesan cheese if you like.

Itadakimasu!


***


Since I've been away from blogging for awhile, I've got a lot to catch-up on!

Dudley is on the left, she inspired me to make the soup.

Remember Jessica's yummy Thai Chicken Salad guest post? That's Jessica's mom Elyse on the right. She and Dudley are the proprietors of Bouquets and Bow Ties Events. You'll be seeing more of them here because...


Rick and Jessica are engaged!

We're having a wedding!

A couple of months ago, Jessica's parents hosted a wonderful engagement party. We were pleased to meet their family and friends.

In the early fall, Rick proposed in what will be their new home that is under construction.

 Here, he is putting the ring on her finger.

 Congratulations to the happy couple!

I think they just exude happiness.

Jessica and Rick met on an airplane. They were sitting next to each other and struck up a conversation over a book Rick had just finished reading. He gave her the book to read with his business card inside.

The rest is history!

This is the book.

 Rick wrote why he knows that she's The One on the inside cover of the book. I think that's so romantic.

Then they made a stepping-stone for their garden with their handprints.

Together, in the shape of a heart.

Ahhhh---Love.


***

Italian Wedding Soup

adapted from Ina Garten at FoodNetwork.com, makes 8 servings

Ingredients:

Meatballs:

1/2 lb. ground chicken

1/2 lb. chicken or pork sausage, casings removed

1 cup bread crumbs or dried stuffing mix, moistened with 1/2 cup broth or milk

1/2 cup old fashioned oats

2 cloves minced garlic

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

2 teaspoons each, chopped thyme and oregano

1/4 cup grated Romano & 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

1 large egg, lightly beaten

sea salt and ground pepper to taste

Soup:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup minced onion

1 cup diced celery with leaves

2 cans chicken broth and enough water to make 10 cups

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 cup small pasta

1/4 cup minced fresh dill

12 ounces baby spinach or kale, washed, ribs removed from kale and torn into bite-sized pieces

Directions:

For the meatballs, place the ground chicken and sausage, bread crumbs moistened with broth or milk, oats, garlic, cheeses (if desired), egg, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper into a bowl and mix gently with a fork. Form into meatballs and set aside.

For the soup, heat olive oil over medium-low heat in a large pot. Add onion, celery, thyme, parsley, oregano and garlic and saute until wilted and soft, about 5 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the chicken broth, wine and water and bring to boil. Boil pasta and drain. Drop the meatballs into the boiling soup. When the pot returns to boil, turn the heat down and simmer gently 10 minutes. When you're ready to serve the soup, return to boil and add the washed spinach & kale with ribs removed and torn into bite-sized pieces. Cook for about a minute or until greens are wilted. Serve with a scoop of pasta and garnish with shaved Parmesan.