Chicken Pot Pie

Personal sized pot pies are one of my favorite meals. My recipe tastes quite similar to the frozen mini pot pies, except since they're freshly baked and home made, they are so much better! They aren't difficult to make, but you have to be in the mood to go through with making pie crust. This isn't necessary difficult, but can be a pain in the butt. I think it's pretty well worth it, however : )

Pie Crust:

2 c Flour
1 tsp Salt
2/3 c Butter
6 TB Cold Water

Combine flour and salt.
Cut in butter with a pastry blender until pea sized crumbles form.
Add cold water one tablespoon at a time until dough is moist.
Divide dough in two.
Roll each ball out into a rectangle.
Lay one half of rectangle over ramekin.

Filling:

Chicken Breasts
Frozen Vegetables (Beans, Carrots, Broccoli, etc.)
Parsley
Chicken Broth
Cornstarch
Salt
Cream Cheese

Boil chicken with salt. When cooked through, cut chicken up.
Cook vegetables in a little water, add parsley and some salt.
Heat chicken broth until simmering and whisk in cornstarch until mixture thickens. Add cream cheese and salt, stir until combined.
Combine gravy, chicken, and vegetables. Spoon into bottom of ramekins.
Fold the other half of the rectangle of dough over the filling and pinch the edges closed.
Bake at 400˚ for 20-30 min.

Mexican Casserole

I reeeeeally love Mexican food. It's got to be my favorite ethnic cuisine, and I will almost never turn it down. I developed this Mexican casserole as an easy and fairly quick way to get my Mexican food fix and of course, guacamole is always a complimentary side : )

Ingredients:

Layer 1 (bottom)
Tortilla Chips

Layer 2
2 TB Butter
Diced Onion
1/2 lb Ground Beef
Beef Broth (From Bullion)
Cumin
Turmeric
Cayenne Pepper
Garlic Powder
Lime/Lemon Juice
Diced Tomato
Frozen Mexican Style Veggies


Layer 3
Rice
Diced Onion
Diced Tomato
Cayenne Pepper
Garlic Powder
Lime/Lemon Juice

Layer 4
Refried Beans

Layer 5
Shredded Cheddar or Mexican Blend Cheese

Directions:

-Preheat oven to 350˚ F
-Spread tortilla chips on the bottom of a 9x9 pan.  
-Layer 2: Melt butter in frying pan and saute onions for a couple minutes. Add beef stock and meat as well as all spices. Break meat down and allow it to simmer. After about 5 minutes, add the frozen veggies. Cover on medium heat for another 5-10 minutes allowing most of the water to cook out. Add lime/lemon juice and the diced tomato. Allow the rest of the water to cook out of the meat. Spread the meat mixture over the chips.
-Layer 3: Cook rice as you normally would. After about 10 minutes add the other ingredients and let most of the water cook out of the mixture. If there is still some water in it it's fine. Spread over top of meat.
-Spread refried beans on top of rice.
-Sprinkle cheese on top of beans.
-Cook 20-30 minutes or until cheese is completely melted but not quite browning.

 
Guacamole:

Ripe Avocado
Salt
Garlic Powder
Cilantro
Lime Juice
Diced Tomato
Diced Onion, Preferably Red

Split avocado in half and peel the skin away. Mash with a fork or a pastry blender. Add spices and lime juice to taste. Chop onion finely and dice tomatoes then add to mixture. Stir until well combined. Be sure to do a taste test to see if it's the right balance of ingredients.

Note: You can tell an avocado's ripe when it's soft to the touch and the skin has a purple-brown tinge to it. 

Polish Heritage

Ever since I made samosas a few weeks back I've been curious to see if I could make pierogies this way. As it turns out, you can! This method worked really well for me and definitely satiated my craving for good Polish food. Usually I only get pierogies once a year, which is at Christmas when my Mom takes the time to go through the pain-staking process of making them from scratch. I have to say that these tasted just about identical to the ones my Mom makes, though they were a little less pretty. However, I didn't have to use all the fancy kitchen gear, which was a big plus (that stuff can get majorly expensive and I don't have any of it). So here is the recipe I came up with. It seems complicated, but is sooo worth it! I wound up with ~26 pierogies using this recipe, which means I have a bunch for the freezer that I can defrost at a later date : ) Also, I recommend serving the pierogies with some nice delicious kielbasa, soooooo freaking good!

Recipe:

Dough:

3 c Flour
2 tsp Salt
1/2 c Butter
2/3 c Sour Cream
1 Egg
6+ TB Cold Water

-Mix the flour and salt in a bowl.
-Cut in butter until a crumbly mixture forms.
-Mix in sour cream and egg.
-Add cold water one tablespoon at a time until the dough forms into a ball.
-Knead on a floured surface for a few minutes until dough is smooth.
-Set aside and let rest.

Filling:

3 Medium Potatoes
2-3 TB Butter
1 Medium Onion, Diced Finely
Salt & Pepper
Garlic Salt
Cheddar Cheese

-Peel potatoes and cut into cubes. Boil until cooked through. Drain potatoes and place them in a stainless steel bowl.
-Using a pastry blender, slice potatoes until slightly crushed but not completely mashed.
-Melt butter in a pan and saute diced onion until translucent. Add salt, pepper, and garlic to taste.
-Pour sauteed onions into the bowl with the potatoes and add shredded cheddar.  Stir until integrated and cheese is melted into mixture.

Assembly:

Small Bowl Water
Large Pot Boiling Water
2-3 TB Butter
1 Medium Onion, Chopped

Method 1 (Makes triangular pierogies)
-Separate dough into 16 balls. Roll each ball out into a circle 5"-6" in diameter. Cut the circle in half. Each piece will make one pierogie. 
-Scoop a small amount of potato mixture onto one side of the semi-circle. Dab water along the edges of the dough and fold the dough in half to create a triangle. Pinch edges closed along seams and use more water if necessary to completely seal the edges.
-Drop 5-6 pierogies at a time into the boiling water. Once they begin to float after a couple minutes, remove them from the water using a slated spoon. Set aside on a jelly-roll pan.
-Allow pierogies to dry out sufficiently.
-Saute with butter and onions in a frying pan until lightly browned.

 Method 2 (Makes half-circle pierogies)
-Separate dough into 28 balls. Roll each ball out into a circle 4"-5" in diameter.
-Scoop a small amount of potato mixture onto one side of the circle. Dab water along the edges of the dough and fold the dough in half to create a semi-circle. Pinch edges closed along seams and use more water if necessary to completely seal the edges.
-Drop 5-6 pierogies at a time into the boiling water. Once they begin to float after a couple minutes, remove them from the water using a slated spoon. Set aside on a jelly-roll pan.
-Allow pierogies to dry out sufficiently.
-Saute with butter and onions in a frying pan until lightly browned.

Note: Usually you will run out of potato filling before you run out of dough. In this case, what my Mom always did was make noodles from the remaining dough. All you have to do is roll the dough out, cut it into thin strips, boil the strips, and air dry them then fry them up with the pierogies.

 

(Pierogies air drying)

 (Pierogies once cooked)