Chicken Pot Pie

It's been rainy and *chilly* here in good old Southern California for the past week, so I've been in the mood for warm comfort food. This recipe was made for us last year by a friend after my baby girl was born. It is SO yummy!


Chicken Pot Pie

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cubed

1 cup sliced carrots

1 cup frozen green peas (optional – I don’t like peas, so I leave them out)

1/2 cup sliced celery

1/3 cup butter

1/3 cup chopped onion

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon celery seed

1 3/4 cups chicken broth (one can)

2/3 cup milk

2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts (I like the premade Albertson's brand)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C.)

2. In a saucepan, combine chicken, carrots, peas, and celery. Add water to cover and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain and set aside.
3. Meanwhile, in another saucepan, cook onions in butter over medium heat until soft and translucent. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and celery seed. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat and set aside.
4. Place the chicken mixture in bottom pie crust.
5. Pour hot liquid mixture over chicken.
6. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape. I always use a pie shield to cover the edges of the crust so that they don’t get too brown.
7. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

I can't believe I forgot to take a "finished" picture after it came out of the oven. My husband and his sister pounced and I was distracted by the kids. LOL

Whole Grain Apple Oatmeal Pancakes

This is one hearty pancake. I was stuffed after just two. And it has been 5 hours since breakfast and I am still stuffed. In fact, I may never need to eat again. :)

These pancakes are pretty healthy with the oats and whole wheat flour. They aren't really very sweet, but with all the syrup and peanut butter I like to dump on them....it totally sweetens these puppies right up.

Anyway, now that our church isn't until 11:00, we need something that will keep us full until dinner. And here they are. Give them a try.

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1 cup oats

1 cup flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 Tbs. baking powder

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup shredded peeled apple - I used a whole apple

1 1/2 cups milk

1/4 cup oil

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

2 Tbs. honey

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Whisk together all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk all the wet ingredients together in a smaller bowl then add to dry ingredients. Then make them however you do pancakes....on an iron skillet, electric skillet or whatever you have.

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Can't you just see how thick these are? Seriously, don't plan on eating again for awhile.

Cheesy Potato Vegetable Soup

3 Cans Chicken Broth
Carrots
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Potatoes
1 Cube Butter
1 Small Package Velveeta Cheese
1 1/2 Quarts Milk
1 Cup Flour

Cut up and cook vegetables in broth until tender. In a separate pan, melt the butter and the velveeta cheese sliced up. Gradually add milk and flour. After cheese thickens, add in cooked vegetables with broth.

poppy seed lemon cake

I'm not sure I really loved this cake like I loved the gingerbread apple upside-down cake. It wasn't as sweet as I think a cake should be. So, I made a lemon/powder sugar glaze to pour over each slice to sweeten things up a bit. That helped a lot! I wasn't sure if I should even post it, but I thought....just because it isn't my "cup of tea" doesn't mean it won't "tickle your fancy". So, here it goes....a recipe that I'm not in love with, but maybe you will be.

ingredients: 2/3 cup of sugar

8 large egg yolks*

1 large whole egg

1 1/2 Tbls of finely grated lemon zest (2 lemons)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup cornstarch

pinch of salt

2 sticks of unsalted butter, melted & cooled a bit

1/2 cup poppy seeds (3 oz bottle)

Directions: preheat oven to 325. Butter and flour a bundt pan generously. This cake really wants to stick, but don't let it. Butter the dull side of a large piece of foil (you need it to cover the top of your bundt pan).

In a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk, beat the sugar and the eggs (1 whole egg and 8 yolks) at medium-high speed until the mixture is a pale yellow and very fluffy, about 8 minutes. Beat in the lemon zest. Sift together the flour, cornstarch and salt in another bowl and add to the egg mixture. Then beat in the butter and poppy seeds.

Pour into prepared pan and cover tightly with the buttered foil. Bake for 45 minutes or until the cake pulls away from the side of the pan and a toothpick comes out clean. Uncover and cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Invert the cake onto the rack and cool completely before serving, about 30 minutes. Sprinkle with powder sugar and if you are needing it a little sweeter....mix some lemon juice with some powder sugar until you get a glaze and pour over each slice. I'm telling you....it really needed the glaze.

And there you have it - a cake that is good, but not "knock your socks off" kind of good.

*Don't waste the egg whites. You can freeze them to use later. Here is a website with recipes for the whites..... www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2007/09/recipes_to_use.html

s'more bars

I found the recipe for s'more bars on my friend's blog (wlichty.blogspot.com), but didn't have all the right ingredients. So, I changed it up a bit....it was so deliciously sweet. You may want to cut them into smaller bars than I did or you'll end up with a belly ache.....like I did.

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Ingredients: 1/2 cup butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup flour

1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs (I used chocolate graham crackers)

1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows

1 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used 1 cup butterscotch and 1/2 cup semi-sweet)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I used pecans)

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In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar. Add the flour and graham crackers. Press the crust mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 8x8 pan. Sprinkle the marshmallows, chips and nuts on top. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until marshmallows brown on top. Let cool on a wire rack or if you're impatient (like me) in the refrigerator on a wire rack.

Happy s'moring!