Pot {roast} Pie

I LOVE my baking counter/station. It is a huge reason why I'm quick to do these kinds of meals.
Everything in one place and easy clean up, right next to the sink!

My original plan for today included a few appointments and lots of laundry. But I'm feeling less energetic than I anticipated, so I spent some time sitting in the sunshine coming through the living room window (yes, it actually does that from time to time in March even if I can't believe it myself) and paid bills and such. We have our child birth education class this evening and I promised Eric I'd have something ready to eat and run when he gets home. But I wasn't feelin it. I had made pizza for that purpose but we ate some last night and both ended up eating it for lunch today. Woops.

So I've got this left over pot roast in the fridge. It wasn't so much a hit the first time around, but some added spices and such, breaking down the meat a little more, and throwing it in a flaky pie crust could possibly smooth things over. Thought I'd give it a try.

I got this fun little pie maker thingy as a wedding shower present from Eric's Auntie Mo. It came with its own cook book and I've actually used it more than once. I love meat pies (thank you, 4 months in South Africa) so I like to do this kind of thing with left overs from time to time.

The most time consuming aspect of this meal is working with pastry dough. I got the one I like best from a recipe for chicken pot pie online. It just uses butter, no shortening. It's really important to keep it cold, so I had to put it in the freezer while I pre-heated the pie maker and warmed up the filling on the stove.

In what I'm assuming is an attempt to appeal to the masses, the recipes in the book call for pre-made crusts: regular pie crust for the bottom, and puff pastry for the tops. But I can make my own for cheaper, so I just deal with the extra time it takes. A lot of times I end up with left over dough when I make fruit pies, etc so this is another good use-it-up option for that issue.

At any rate, these only take about 10 minutes to bake as opposed to the usual 40-60 min a regular size pie would take in the oven, so there is a time saving aspect about these for sure.

And in case it needs to be disclosed, the magic I added includes more salt and pepper, a dash of garlic powder, onion powder, some oregano and basil, and a few squirts of Worcestershire sauce to amp up the flavor against the abundance of crust.

That's the fancy schmancy mechanical-maker-doo, BUT when I make chicken pot pie (and I make a mean chicken pot pie) I combine all the ingredients in a glass pyrex storage bowl (which happens to be oven-safe) and just seal the crust around the top and bake it in the oven. That way, after we've eaten some, I can just put the lid on and put it in the fridge. No special machinery required. This could just have easily been prepared using that method- down to the fact that being leftovers, it had been stored in said pyrex container!

Filling and topping with lid

Done-zos!

Getting organized

"I have nowhere to put my stuff!!!" he shouts in exasperation. And it's true. My husband sacrificed his desk (which was sent back to his parents' house from whence it originated) to make room for the pack n play in the den/study/place where some of the baby things are. Mine is much smaller, and a family heirloom or it might have been booted as well. Anyway, he often ends up with piles of lots of paperwork items between school, work, boyscouts, young men presidency meetings, bills, medical forms, and all the mail we get. And I get on his case about leaving them on the kitchen counter, or in my hats/gloves/scarves box by the front door. We have a filing cabinet, but who has time to sit there and sort through everything and then file it all???

Well, as it turns out, I DO! So for his birthday, I've created a filing system that he can use to organize his paperwork, do what he wants to do with it, and then stick it in an out box for me to file or throw away/shred. I immediately pictured those tall skinny boxes that look like trapper keeper folders and thought it wouldn't be too pricey to grab a few. Since they would occupy a contained amount of space, they could sit comfortably on top of the filing cabinet. 

And then I thought- heck! I could make them. So I solicited the help of the ladies at church, gathered several cereal boxes and made them pretty in a simple two step process: glue scrapbook paper over the outsides and packing tape the heck out of them- since again, this is the room where some of the baby stuff lives and while she doesn't have her own room, I'd at least like it to look nice as it fulfills multiple roles in our home. 

So here they are. And with them, the promise that all the miscellaneous papers, books, notebooks, binders, and stuff that's hanging out on the floor where the desk was will be sorted through and put away by MY birthday, I give you the cutest freest filing system known to man:  

Eyeballed the first one, and then cut the others to match

Forgot to start by taking "before" pictures, as usual.

This was once a box of granola bars.
 I wanted a smaller, wider one for receipts

All beautiful and finished!

It was fun picking paper that coordinated, but didn't necessarily match. Not that it took any skill- the paper came from a large collection that all coordinates together. They are bound in a book and you just tear off what you want to use. It was pretty easy for me to pick, since yellow, turquoise and red are the colors I've been using the most as I set up baby girl's stuff

Though not likely to be seen, the backs all bring in additional designs. I'm pretty happy with how they look. 

Great Leftover recipes

After reading my post on the chicken and rice soup, my mom strongly suggested the use of frittatas for using up left overs, particularly colored peppers, pasta, any kind of meat, and CHEESE. You can bury pretty much anything in one of these suckers.

My favorite recipe comes from the Better Homes and Garden Cookbook and has a Mediterranean flavor. I used sour cream and milk instead of heavy cream and it came out perfect. This is a GREAT way to use up old bread or the crumbs in the bag of croutons.

I had bacon, goat cheese, and peppers to use up as well as the previously mentioned Basil. I just love the flavor in this. Feel free to sprinkle dry italian spices on top with the croutons. Italian bread crumbs would also do the trick. I omitted the olives because my other half won't eat them. As a result, he loved this, and even ASKED for it the second day when I offered him two choices.

The other magic recipe for recycling ingredients is Shepherd's Pie. We had corn and green beans in the fridge in separate containers and left over mashed potatoes. Not much, so I actually made another quick batch of instant to supplement. Grabbed the ground beef from the freezer (but turkey would be awesome too, and I think the original recipe calls for lamb, hence the name) and sprinkled it with steak seasoning and Al sauce as it browned. Combine in the baking dish, top with a little butter and heat through until potatoes are slightly brown on top. To make it look fancy, I dusted the top with parsley flakes. Easy, tasty, warm, and cozy. I did put this together in a small baking dish so it would be a decent thickness and not go too far. You don't want to end up re-purposing your leftovers again!

As you can see, I served it with apple slices and caramel sauce (which has been in the fridge for a long time and needed some attention). It was a filling, delicious meal!

Culinary adventures and Fresh herbs

So about that miracle Salmon...

The only splurge on this recipe was the puff pastry- which my friend graciously provided. Combining our resources was genius and a whole lot of fun. While the baking took place, her daughter instructed us in an art project. I had a blast and am very happy with how mine turned out. The salmon was a success. I'd make it again since now I have the steps down and it would really go quickly. Just needed to roll the dough out a little thinner so it cooks all the way through.

And now, a word about fresh herbs. This year I will be planting a small garden for the first time, and the plan is to never have to buy herbs again. But up until this point, that not being a possibility has always been a frustration for me because you end up paying a fortune for the 1/8th portion you need and they go bad before you can use the rest. 

I did, however, have a capricious experience this week when I accidentally made three meals that also call for fresh herbs. The aforementioned steak for Valentine's Day got a liberal dose of dill and basil along with a little butter for its searing stage. Then I made a frittata to use up left over colored peppers, onion, goat cheese, and breakfast meat. Fresh basil in that sucker makes it. Also magical about that recipe that I didn't calculate is that it calls for crushed croutons on top- and we just happened to have a bag with only crumbs left in the bottom. 

Finally, today I was watching "The Taste" and they did a Thai and Asian theme for one of the rounds that made me really want Red Curry Coconut chicken (another pantry only recipe I try to keep on hand) so I was almost not even surprised when I remembered the last step is to add fresh basil. 

Of course I bought it for the salmon recipe, but it just made me realize how helpful a digital library reference for herbs would be when planning meals. I did this by accident, but it's all gone! 

Now for the dill. Again, a generous portion was used in the salmon and also the steak. I made this cauliflower soup up one time back in the day for a fall soup party and it was a hit. It's another way to use up chopped veggies, and I always seem to have left overs of the selection featured in this recipe. The dill was almost an after thought during the original process, but now I'd say it's the star. Here's the original recipe. I'm tweaking it today due to a variation of spices and ingredients on hand. Likely it will be just sour cream and milk.  Also, I do have a food processor now, so it all gets creamed together at the end. I saved half out before adding the milk so I can freeze it as left overs. 

Head of cauliflower
celery stalks (2?)
a few carrots (baby or large)
1 onion
2 med potatoes
cook up veggies, smash the carrots and cauliflower (so you'll need to have them separate)
Put vegetable bullion, 1 T flour, salt, pepper and 1-2 T butter in the big pot (crockpot)I put the onion in there too. Warm till thick. Add veggies and 1 c milk/half and half, or more if you want it creamier.

Before we ate it I added sour cream, thyme and sage. And more salt. OH AND FRESH DILL. That was the kicker. I put kind of a lot in, with the potatoes and celery when they cooked.

If I had a large capacity food processor, it would have been all creamed.
Serve with cheddar cheese atop.



Another resource I've used in the past is the website Supercook, which lets you search for a recipe by ingredients you have on hand. I'm sure there are others out there, as well as apps for smart devices by now. 

Holiday Fun

Eric is sensitive about not making a fuss over commercialized holidays and February 14th is the most offensive in his book. So I try to tell myself not to expect anything. That if I want it to be special, I'm going to have to do it myself.

So I was especially grateful when he came home from work with these beauties, and even enjoyed more how proud he was of the deal he found (and stuck it to the man) on them, telling me, "You just gotta know where to look."

I found a great deal on steak earlier last week and had planned on different sides but I helped out at a wedding earlier in the day and was sent home with a lot of left overs so I used the mashed potatoes, salad and bread right up and it worked out great.

The deal I got on strawberries and cream was for this meal. I decided to put the little box of strawberry jello in the pantry to good use and this was the result.

After dinner, I was offered a surprise conversion of the spare room to a snuggle filled den. I got to choose the movie and he even found, filled, and placed my water bottle for me. He doesn't care much for Valentine's Day, but he sure likes me! We watched my all time favorite movie, Emma. He laughed more than once and didn't fall asleep. Dinner for two for under two bucks, and a free movie. Winning!

I love the blankets draped over the messy areas. :) 

The next day, being Sunday, I had planned brunch for after church to use up the rest of the strawberries before they go bad. To me, it was just a continuation of the love theme. Guys, these waffles are amazing, and a total ALL PANTRY ingredients option. It uses a lot of butter (two sticks) but I always keep some in the freezer from buying it on sale. Otherwise all you need is flour, sugar, baking powder, milk, eggs and vanilla. It's fancy because of how it all comes together- very silky. And my personal favorite step, the egg whites are whipped separately. Makes them so light and fluffy. 

And the sausage- Johnsonville Maple Syrup flavor- are to die for. Again, we usually have some in the freezer. I've learned that breakfast meat on hand is the key to quick easy meals in a pinch. And this one in particular is one of my favorite meals ever. If I do say so myself. E opted for no fruit, which is fine. He took care of preparing the protein for us. It was so nice to work in the kitchen together and NOT be in each other's way! 

My secret ingredient is the fruit sauce. I use the last of whatever I have on hand and boil it down in a simple syrup (equal parts water and sugar), usually add a little acid (either lemon or lime juice) and then freeze it in small portions. When we have pancakes or waffles, I pull one container out of the freezer and heat it through. It's best warm, so there's no worry about defrosting it quickly. So easy, and so good. 

So the strawberries were featured last week on Sunday with friends making sundaes, the salad and dessert from Valentine's Day Saturday, lunch Sunday, and in lunches this week for E to take to work, with vanilla yogurt. There are a handful left over and they are going straight into the freezer for smoothies. Viola!

Using up onions

I've never been that huge a fan of French Onion Soup, but the thought occurred to me that I might like it better if I made it myself. When I was faced with a mega deal on 3 lbs of onion (realizing that I'd save money even if I didn't use them all, at the price they were offered) I found my opportunity.

The onions are nearing the end of their one hour sautee right now so we'll see how it goes. I used this incredibly simple recipe, which has step by step instructions WITH pictures. It is a very low ingredient count meal, especially if you have beef stock on hand.

I halved the recipe since there are only two of us, and I didn't really have THAT much onion left. She explains later that it will amount to 6 cups of chopped onion so I chopped three up and it was just about half of that.

Hope it turns out good.

FYI, the half recipe was perfect for one box of pre-made beef stock (4 cups). You'd need two for the whole recipe.  

In the kitchen- pumpkin cereal muffins

I was in the mood to make pumpkin pie- snowy, dreary day- but we didn't have any condensed milk in the pantry. Normally I would have just run to the store for the missing ingredient. However, I've used pumpkin in cookies and muffins and breads, so I knew I could find an alternative.

I found this recipe for banana oatmeal muffins* and tried it two weeks ago. We liked it a lot, but I haven't bought bananas since. The other day Eric finished off a bag of cereal but there was a lot of broken up pieces left in the bottom and I knew I'd be able to find a use for them so I put them in my baking cupboard. I modified the banana recipe, used the cereal instead of oatmeal and pumpkin instead of banana, and added pumpkin pie spice.

I think they turned out great. And what a healthy breakfast option! Cereal, honey, yogurt, walnuts, pumpkin and eggs.

Look how much I got out of the bottom of the bag! Almost 2 cups. 

Cooling on the rack. I used the whole can of pumpkin and it made 17 muffins in all. 

*I also don't have any flax seed around so I substitute 2 T of whole wheat flour. My measurements are a little different than hers and I just use vanilla yogurt instead of plain (since we have that on hand) and omit the additional vanilla.

In the kitchen- stir fry

My "chopped" technique of using what I have on hand came into full force today. I had purchased some yellow and red pepper on special to go with the carrot, celery, broccoli, onion and shrimp I had left over from last week. (Actually, the shrimp was frozen from long before that).

What I didn't have was any teryaki sauce, and I know Eric usually uses that as his base in stir fry. So I winged it.

I sauteed the veggies in sesame oil, set them aside and then cooked the shrimp two ways- defrosted and cooked through in boiling water and then seared and seasoned in a pan with my new invention-
Soy sauce, Dijon mustard, black pepper, garlic powder, curry powder and ginger. After the shrimp was coated, I added the veggies back in and dressed it all in the sauce. Then, after determining that it was good but not strong enough, I recreated it in a serving dish and emptied the pan into that bowl when I was ready to serve, mixing to coat. It turned out great! Served over jasmine rice from the pantry, just a light meal before we go to a Hockey game with the church youth group tonight.

In the kitchen

We have taken a hit financially now that I'm not working, but one of my super powers has always been cooking from a limited pantry. I used to refer to it as my "Iron Chef" super power, but having spent more time in the hulu catalog of free Food Channel shows, I now realize it's more along the lines of Chopped.

Anyway. this week I tried shopping at Aldi for the first time. It went great so I have another meal plan and grocery list made up for next week based on their weekly ad (more on that in another post).

We had two Cornish game hens in the freezer so I pulled them out to defrost and then had the best time dressing the little guys. They were so fun to handle. I stuffed them with celery greens and the last of an old onion that I dressed with lemon juice, salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning and then shoved pieces of butter up in there. The same rub/butter on top and then into the oven until the hubs got home from work, basting frequently which was another first for me. SO FUN!

I served it with mashed potatoes (from the cupboard), stuffing (.89$ at Aldi) and corn for the man (in the freezer) since he loves it. We ate our fill, but there was quite a bit left over. If I were to do it again, one hen would be plenty for both of us.

The next day I got to work tearing it apart and got two more meals' worth of meat out of the carcasses. I made creamy chicken casserole that has stuffing on top- which was perfect for the amount we had left over- and a chicken soup base that I'll add a little extra broth and rice to on Sunday when we're ready to eat it. I felt so happy and proud of myself as I did it and both of the additional meals have turned out great.

Another fun kitchen victory for me has been coming up with alternative desserts. Eric has wisely chosen to cut back on his sugar intake (the man has a serious sweet tooth inherited from his mother who will literally eat only a chocolate bar for lunch) and I'm trying to not only encourage, but enable him by providing something sweet at the end of the meal that isn't full of refined sugar. We've had orange slices, canned fruit, and pictured on the left, baked pears. We got the weird dark skinned Asian pears and I wasn't really sure how to know when they are ripe so I thought it would be safest to cook them. I sprinkled them with cinnamon, a few drizzles of honey, and handful of crushed walnuts and used coconut butter for the fat to cook them in. They turned out awesome! While I was coming up with ingredients I really wanted to use the nuts but we only had large pieces and I don't have a suitable crushing apparatus...or so I thought. Instead of adding a mortal and pestle to my birthday wish list, I grabbed a small pyrex storage dish and a small jar from the cupboard that I had already re-purposed as a travel size peanut butter container and there you have it- the outcome was beyond satisfactory and the good news is, I have a whole collection of these jars because they came from a box of sample jams that Nana gave us for Christmas from the Amish Market.

Baby {blanket} work in progress

Today I finished a long standing work in progress. Baby blankets don't take me very long to make- usually about 4-5 hours all told. So this was actually deliberately strung out over the past 3 years or so (I actually have no clue when I started it). I hesitated because I didn't have a deadline. I just wanted to start working on a blanket for MY kid. I had made one for all four of my co-workers' babies from when I was teaching middle school. Betsy, Rafa, Stefanie and Kari all had hand made crocheted unique original creations, and since they've all gone on to have #2, I figured it was time I got going on one for me!

I chose to keep it all white, since my tradition was to start with a white center and then after the gender was revealed, I'd add an appropriate color around the edges. But since I didn't know what I would have first, I'd just do the whole thing white and it could be for the day they get blessed at church.

I had to switch to another yarn because I ran out/lost track of what I was using at first. I know I restarted it at least twice due to contrasting textures. Once I finally go moving on an acceptable yarn #2, I worked on making it more interesting by adding a pattern. About this point is where I was actually pregnant and had an end date goal in mind. So I worked on it here and there and about a week ago got moving in earnest. I knew I wanted the edges scalloped so when I ran out of yarn about 5 stitches from the end, I didn't panic. There would be an entire new row around the outside that would cover up the very slight difference between the second and third types of yarn. I thought about using my spare change to run to the store to get more, and then I remembered I had that other yarn in my stash that I had originally tried to use as #2. I grabbed that and finished it off this morning.

Viola!

My idea was to create just a little difference in texture by interrupting the double stitch with a few lines of triple. I like how it contrasted, and next time I would do them closer together and more of them. The way this one is, however, gives it the ever symbolic number 3- "my three white dresses" in the case of a little girl, or even the Holy Trinity. Plus, she'll be the third member of our little family!

There is still quite a bit of the white #3 left so if I wanted to start another white center for one of the 3 other girls' babies I've been going through this pregnancy with, I could. Since I finished so quickly and still have two months to get through, I just might!

Post Edit: Shortly after publishing this post we got word that my husband's cousin is expecting. They will be attending our baby shower in a couple of weeks so it would be inappropriate to not get a gift for them as well. Of course, my heart sank thinking, "How on earth are we going to be able to afford something nice for their baby?" when I remembered...I can MAKE them something priceless, and I have a whole stash of baby yarn. It'll be FREE! I don't know if she'll appreciate it or not, but really who can argue with a hand made gift?