Lies, Lies, Lies and Chicken Pot Pies!!

These are the best biscuits I ever made!

Okay, so I really am bad at blogging.  Well, I kind of have a good reason...Dell.  My computer has been acting up.  It just shuts off right in the middle of everything.  Extremely frustrating.  Anyway, I think we will promise to do this...Post the Frat Menu on Sunday Night along with a recipe or two.  Then, if possible, I will add recipes during the week. 

 

Here's the Menu

 

Monday
Lunch-Chop Chop Chicken Cobb Salad with Potato Soup
Dinner-Roasted Chicken, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, Green Beans, Homemade Rolls
Tuesday
Lunch-Chicken Salad on Croissants, Fresh Fruit, Chips, Yogurt
Dinner-Brie & Brisket Quesadillas, Cucumber & Onion Salad
Wednesday
Lunch-Grilled Ham & Cheese, Tomato Soup
Formal Dinner-Chicken Marsala, Spinach & Berry Salad, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Garlic Bread
Thursday
Lunch-Crepes with Fruit Compote, Sausage Links, Fresh Fruit Salad
Dinner-Meatball Subs, Corn, Green Salad
Friday
Lunch-Boneless Chicken Wings, Baked Fries, Fresh Veggies and Dip
Desserts-Double Chocolate Chip Cookies ~ Cream Cheese Brownies ~ Fresh Made Eclair

 

Last week we had some great food.  Chicken Pot Pie was a huge hit. 


We made this completely from scratch! This ain't no canned soup recipe!

 Frankly Friends, I am having a devil of time posting recipes! You know why?  Cuz I never use the darn things! This one is particularly hard since I wing it every time.  But here's my best effort...

 

The chicken ~ you can use any kind of chicken you want, but my favorite way to make this is by using fresh skinless chicken breast on the bone that has been cooked in a pressure cooker.  It cooks fast, retains lots of flavor and leaves you with a nice chicken broth.  The meat falls right off the bone.  Many folks prefer the dark meat, so use the whole chicken if you like.  It's much less expensive as well.

 

The biscuits ~ I used a recipe from Country Living that you will find below.  I recommend doubling it so you have enough for the topping as well as for some butter and honey! I also recommend making the biscuits first.  Only roll out 1/2 the dough and leave the rest for topping the pot pie. See if you can get someone else to make the biscuit dough while you work on the filling.  Don't forget to lower the oven temp down to 400 after baking the biscuits.

 

Classic Biscuit Recipe
The following recipe is the best recipe for biscuits I have ever made.  It is from Country Living Magazine
 http://www.countryliving.com/recipefinder/classic-biscuit-recipe

 

1/2 cup(s) unsalted butter
2 1/2 cup(s) all-purpose flour (sifted twice before measuring)
1 tablespoon(s) baking powder
1 teaspoon(s) salt
1 cup(s) cold buttermilk
2 tablespoon(s) cold buttermilk
1 tablespoon(s) melted butter

 

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Directions

1. Heat oven to 475 degrees F. Cut butter into small cubes and freeze 15 minutes. Stir dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
2. Cut in butter using either a pastry blender, two knives, or your fingers until mixture resembles a coarse meal.
3. Stir in buttermilk using a fork just until dough forms. Knead 3 to 4 turns on a lightly floured surface and pat into a 7- by 10-inch rectangle. Cut out biscuits using a 3-inch cutter (gathering scraps until all dough is used).
4. Place 2 inches apart on a baking pan. Brush tops with melted butter.
5. Bake on top shelf of oven 16 to 18 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

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The Filling
Oven 400
4 tbsp butter
1 large onion chopped
3 stalks celery chopped
5 carrots, peeled and cut in 1/2 inch slices on the bias
1 cup mushrooms, sliced thin
4 cups shredded chicken
2 cups water
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup flour
1 Tbsp poultry seasoning
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 cups skimmed broth, divided
1 16 oz bag mixed veggies or...
1 cup frozen corn or corn cut off the cobb
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup chopped frozen or fresh green beans (not canned!)
2 cups milk, or cream

 

Into a large saucepot, add butter, onion, celery, & carrots.  Cook until onions are soft.  Add mushrooms and cook until the mushrooms are tender.  Add the chicken, cook for 1 minute, add the water and bay leaves. Let this simmer on low while you make the roux.
In a bowl, add the flour, poultry seasoning , salt and pepper.  Slowly pour about 1/4 -1/2 cup of the broth into flour while stirring with a whisk until it makes a thick paste or roux.  After the roux is formed, slowly add the remaining broth stirring until there are no lumps and it is liquid.  While stirring the chicken mixture, add the roux to the pan.
Now add the remaining veggies and milk or cream. Cover and cook on low until it thickens.
Pour filling into a buttered/sprayed baking dish.  Top the filling with 1 inch balls of biscuit dough with a small space in between.  When baking, since the filling is fully cooked, once the biscuit topping is brown, it's done.
Should be about 15 minutes.

 

 



We made this completely from scratch! This ain't no canned soup recipe!



Phi Menu!

Hello Sunday!
I missed my blog while I was away.  I am so excited to have 11, count 'em, 11 followers! I know it's not a lot, but it means a lot!
At the fraternity, we plan our menus two weeks at a time.  I will be posting the weekly menu each weekend.  I cook lunch and dinner Monday-Thursday and lunch only on Fridays. If you hate menu planning, feel free to take this menu and adapt it to your family.  I will be posting recipes with photos as we prepare each item, so as long as you have something for Monday's, you could use our recipes for the rest of the week.  We try not to repeat items very often, but it does happen, usually for favorites.  Anyway, I hope you find the menu helpful in your week of meal planning.  Just email me if you have any questions at cafegirl16@gmail.com.

By the way.....
I tend to make Monday's an easy, out of the freezer type of lunch.  I don't hate Monday's, rather, I like them.  But I like them at home! So, I plan a lunch that is easy to prepare in 1 hour or less, so I can spend the morning at home, cleaning up the weekend hullabaloo that remains after my family scampers off to work and school...so forgive me if you don't like corndogs, but these boys like some 'bad' food once in a while and with me, they get it on Monday.  Technically, they aren't due for my cooking until Tuesday due to MLK, so anything will make them happy!

Week of January 17-21

Monday

Lunch-Corn Dogs, Tomato Basil Bisque, Fresh Fruit

Dinner-Homemade Chili, Homemade Corn & Green Chile Cornbread

Tuesday

Lunch-Baked Macaroni & Cheese, Peas, Fresh Fruit, Homemade Roll

Dinner-Queso Smothered Beef Burritos, Fire Roasted Corn, Salsa & Chips, Green Salad

 Wednesday

Lunch-Curried Tuna Melts on Wheat Berry Bread, Blueberry Muffins, Fresh Fruit, Potato Chips

Dinner-Shrimp Fajitas, Southwest Veggie Fried Rice, Pico de Gayo, Sweet & Spicy Pinto Beans

 Thursday

Lunch-Philly Cheesesteaks, Sweet Potato Fries, Fresh Fruit Salad

Dinner-Homemade Chicken Pot Pie, Cranberry Jello Salad, Biscuit

Friday

Lunch-Spaghetti w/Homemade meatsauce, Caesar Salad, Fresh Green Beans, Garlic Bread

 This menu gives you 9 meals to work with, 8 if you don't count my slacker meal of corndogs! So, if all you needed were ideas, here they are!

Today for my family, I am making a wonderful Rustic Roast Beef Sandwich.  For dessert I am going to make a Pear Tart! The recipes are below. Enjoy.

 

Rustic Roast Beef on Sourdough with Tangy Horseradish Aioli

4 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 Green Bell Pepper, sliced into strips

1 large onion, sliced into thin rings

3 fine minced garlic

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1.5 lb deli roast beef, thin sliced

4-6 sandwich sliced Fontina Cheese, cut in half

1/4 cup Gorgonzola Cheese Crumbles (optional, but yummy!)

Fresh Spinach (optional)

Tomato slices (optional)

1-2 sticks softened butter

1-2 loaves sourdough baguette

Tangy Horseradish Aioli

1 cup mayo

2 Tbsp Horseradish Sauce

Juice of 1/2 lemon

*In a small bowl, mix all ingredients. 

Put sauce into a squeeze bottle if you wish.

Oven 400

Heat a saute pan on medium, then add olive oil and

garlic.  Add bell pepper and cook for 1 minute.  Add

all of the onion and mushrooms and cook another 2-3

minutes.  Cook until onions are clear and brown on

the edges.  Set aside.  Slice sourdough baguette in half

lengthwise, like a big sandwich.  Then cut into 3-4

sections on the diagonal for individual sandwiches. 

Carve out some excess bread on each side, so the

sandwich isn't so thick with too much bread.  
Butter each side.  On the bottom half of each sandwich section layer:
4-5 slices of roast beef
A spread of the aioli
A sprinkle of gorgonzola
A spoonful of onion mushroom mixture
A layer of trimmed spinach leaves
Top with Fontina slices & another smear of aioli
Place the top half of the baguette on the sandwich, wrap in foil,
BAKE for about 25 minutes.
Feed your Fans!
**The sandwiches I made did not have Gorgonzola or spinach. I'm slowly trying to get my kids to get out of their 'food comfort zone'. The horseradish sauce was a huge step!

Pear Tart (Galette)

This recipe is sooooo EASY!!! And will impress anyone!

Oven 425

1 prepared Pate Brisee ~ see earlier post

4-6 pears, peeled, cored, sliced thin

1/4 cup sugar

1 Tbsp corn starch

juice of 1 lemon

1/4 cup triple sec (optional)

Slice pears into a bowl. Mix corn starch, sugar, triple sec, & lemon

in a measuring cup.  Add  sugar mix to pears and gently stir so all the pears are covered with the sugar mix. 
While pears marinate, roll out crust onto baking sheet or

the removable circle from a tart pan.  Lay pears on crust by layering into a circle moving your way out leaving about 2 inches to fold over.  As you can see in mine, it isn't very uniform and it certainly doesn't look like some fancy tarts in books.  To achieve that, you need lots of uniform pieces which requires more fruit than I had.  After layering the pears, fold the edges over the fruit. Pour some of the leftover liquid over the fruit.   Brush with cream, sprinkle with sugar.

Bake 20-25 minutes.  Watch for the edges to brown and the liquid to bubble.