A Pot Pie by Any Other Name...

So I started off with a plan--lots of veggies, chicken, a savory sauce, a nice top layer of crust. I even had two different recipes marked to follow, but as is typical, I wandered off and made something pretty unrecognizable to the makers of the recipe. The one really appealing factor in this recipe is that while I ate it all week long (it made enough for 11 lunches/dinners, and I added veggies to my eggs a couple of breakfasts as well), there was quite a bit of variation in what was on my plate. A versatile base, with lots of ways to build off of it. Take this as a model and build your own!

Ingredients:

 Veggies:

1 small acorn squash
8 oz baby bella mushrooms
1 red pepper
1 red onion
2 bunches asparagus
4 small carrots
4 stalks celery
1 large head cauliflower
2 small bunches broccoli
4 small red skinned potatoes 
1 clove roasted garlic

Meat:

2 chicken thighs
2 chicken breasts

Sauce:

chicken broth
1 tbs butter
1 tbs olive oil
3 tbs flour
1 1/2 tsp thyme
1 tsp ground mustard
1 tbs spicy brown mustard
dash cayenne pepper
Salt and Pepper to taste

The first step is epic amounts of chopping--each vegetable needs to be diced pretty small, so it will be small in the pie. I had pre-roasted the squash and cooled and peeled it. Once that was prepped, I heated the butter in the pan and added the butter and oil to make a roux. That cooked until nice and golden, and I whisked in the broth and the seasonings and let thicken. Then I added the longer cooking veggies--the carrots, potatoes, onions, celery, peppers, mushrooms, cauliflower. The chicken was chopped and added along with some more broth (I shouldn't have added as much as I did, next time I'd go easier on it.) This cooked down until the chicken lost that pinkness, and I added the broccoli, asparagus, and squash. This continued until the chicken was fully cooked, and the veggies had a little bite.

I divided the mixture into individual oven proof dishes (a new purchase that I LOVE--got them BOGO in a 6 oz and 12 oz sizes) After I'd split them up, I changed my mind and ended up just cooking 4 pies the first day and baking off 3-4 at a time through the week. The rest of the filling went into the fridge.

I used 4 completely different toppings for my top only pies--phyllo dough sheets, cauliflower mash, yogurt biscuits, and cornbread stuffing. The most successful, in my opinion, for eating over the week were the ones topped with the mash and the stuffing. Each baked for 15-20 minutes until the tops were done.

The Verdict: This is a comfort food classic for a reason--it is warm and satisfying. The variety of veggies provide a nice contrast of textures and flavors, and it allowed me to give into my desire to experiment whole heartedly. I love that I can eat a huge bowl of veggies, and have room for a biscuit or stuffing!

Stir Fried Pork and Broccoli

When I first got all my cookbooks, I dog eared the pages of all the recipes I thought I'd like to try (I am not ashamed of my dog ear habit, and most of these books were pre-dog eared by library patrons!). I marked this recipe in the Everyday Food Light cookbook, but didn't make it because I wasn't sure what pork to use. Plus, I've made a lot of recipes from this book, and thought I should diversify.

Today, however, I realized I had bought more broccoli before I'd even used what I already had--so I decided it was time to give this dish a try. The dish calls for pork tenderloin quartered lengthwise and sliced, but that is an expensive cut of meat where I live and is usually sold in bigger amounts than the 1 pound called for. So I decided to use some pork loin chops. They were already sliced thin, so I figured it would work.

 Ingredients: 

Zest and juice of one orange, about 1/4 cup
1/4 c light soy sauce
1/4 c rice wine vinegar (unseasoned)
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp ginger
red pepper and ground pepper to taste
Around a pound of pork loin chops, thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves
6 scallions
1 1/2 to 2 lbs broccoli
1/2 pound mushrooms
Water

Since I cook on my days off, I tweaked the original recipe and turned the sauce into a marinade for the pork, letting it soak for several hours. I'm not sure that it made a big difference in this case, but I do like marinating things. So to make the sauce/marinade, I mix the zest and juice of one orange, the soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, oyster sauce, ginger, red pepper, and a good helping of ground pepper. I also grated the garlic and added it as well. I took the thin sliced chops and cut them into smaller strips, and placed them and the sauce in a plastic zip bag. It was more marinade than I'd usually use, but I'll cook it off as sauce later on for a whole lot of broccoli.


I stuck the bag in the fridge for a couple hours and made some goodies in the mean time. Around 5:30, I got out the broccoli, mushrooms, and scallions and chopped them. The broccoli was all chopped including the stems--which were peeled and then thinly sliced. The stem is actually one of my favorite parts in a stir fry, it really absorbs the sauce and is tender and flavorful. I usually don't spring for the extra money for the broccoli crowns because the stems are so good.

The scallions are divided, with the white parts going in the stir fry and the green parts reserved to top the finished dish. I added the mushrooms, even though the recipe didn't call for it, because I love mushrooms, and had a container of them that needed to be used up.

 Once all the veggies were chopped, I sprayed the pan with cooking spray and heated it up on medium and quickly browned the pork on both sides. The pork was really thin, so it cooked all the way through almost immediately. I'm not sure why they cut it so thin--next time I'll buy thicker chops. I wonder if these might be used like the turkey cutlets for wrapped/rolled dishes. The directions called for browning on both sides, and resting while the veggies cook, and then a final cook together.

So after all the pork had been browned/cooked, I put the onion and mushrooms in the pot and let them cook off a little until the onions were soft.  Then all the broccoli is added. I poured 1/4 a cup of the marinade/sauce and a couple tablespoons of water to the pan, and covered and cooked until the broccoli was crisp/tender, stirring occasionally. A lot of the liquid cooked off during this time, steaming the broccoli.

The pre-browned pork is added to the pan, once the broccoli is cooked. I also added the cornstarch to the remaining sauce/marinade, squishing it around the bag to get it mixed in, and then pouring it and all meat juices on the pan. I let that cook until the sauce started to thicken and all the pork had cooked through. The final step is to top with the freshly chopped green scallion tops.

The Verdict: Flavorful and fresh, this is a quick and easy dish (even though I made it more complicated than it needed to be). I like a fair amount of strong flavors in my dishes, so I love the complex layers of flavor--the red pepper, ginger, orange, fish sauce, sesame oil, garlic--and the fresh scallions really give it a fresh edge. It is perfect for me because the leftovers make wonderful lunches for the next day. This made enough for 3 generous portions, but if served with rice or noodles it would easily serve 4 or 5. But I don't feel like rice is necessary to enjoy this.

Adventures in Quinoa

So I selected two options from my Quinoa 365 cookbook, one is a main dish and one is a dessert. I figured if I was cooking Quinoa I might as well use it twice! And I wanted to expand my horizons--I've never had quinoa in anything but savory dishes.

Here are my two recipes from the book: Thai Cashew Chicken and Broccoli on Quinoa, and Raspberry Cream Cheese Muffins.

 I took these photos of the recipes to the store so I would get everything I needed, and I still ended up with no whole wheat flour, no baking soda, and no cashews. I borrowed the first two from my sister, in exchange for muffins! The second just didn't happen. So it is just Thai Chicken and Broccoli, no cashews.

My Quinoa has "bloomed" but still had some liquid to absorb.

I cooked quinoa just last week, but I usually cook it in the sauce, so it absorbs the flavor and everything cooks at once. So I was worried about getting the liquid ratio right--when the timer went off it had bloomed, but was still sloshy. Fortunately, a little more cooking, a lot of time sitting, and some fluffing and it turned out the right consistency.

 While the quinoa cooled and absorbed liquid, I got out the ingredients for the muffins. When I borrowed the flour from my sister she was all fancy with her food scale, and I wanted to do the same, but the amounts in the book were confusing. Sadly math is hard, so I got my measuring cup out and went to work. Dry ingredients in the bowl, I turned to the main dish.

I don't want to see the chicken this came from!

Oyster Sauce and Sesame Oil are new additions to my kitchen.

I buy chicken in 20 lbs bags from Costco, so I knew I'd have enough for this recipe. It calls for 4 chicken breasts, but the one I pulled out of my monster bag was almost 13 oz, which I figured was equal.






            The marinade was so flavorful and easy--I thinly sliced this monster breast, and set it all in the fridge to work its magic. 

 The quinoa had cooled, so in it went into the dry ingredients, where it formed funny little balls. The cream cheese was more of the same. I struggled with the raspberries--the frozen ones I bought were monster sized (and not even from Costco!). But I moved on to wet ingredients, where I sadly used mostly substitutions to make them lighter. Egg substitute, apple sauce, and a sweetener blend, pretty much only the vanilla was as called for in the recipe.

    I found the chicken dish to be easier to follow the recipe, (though I must admit that besides forgetting the cashews, I added less peanut butter and honey at the end). Broccoli and onion chopped, I fried them up with some sesame oil. Then the chicken into the pan. It had been marinating for hours by this point (in between cooking the muffins and finishing the chicken I went and played with my nieces) so it was pretty brown. It made it sort of hard to see when it was cooked all the way through, but since it was so thinly sliced it cooked fast!  I added a touch of peanut butter, a drop of honey, and tossed it together with the broccoli. Yummy, even without cashews!

  The Verdict: The chicken dish had great flavors, but the ratio of broccoli to chicken didn't work for me. In fact, I took the leftovers and added two more cups of broccoli, some mushrooms, and left off the quinoa all together. That is a dish I'd make again!

I brought over some warm muffins to my sister when I went to play with my nieces, her response: "tastes healthy" and "maybe you need better recipes." I actually enjoyed them--they are filling and yes, healthy. Maybe if I hadn't done all the substitutions they would have been more than healthy.

Verdict: tastes healthy.