Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Chicken Pot Pie


We had the honour of hosting the Wiebe family...minus Darren...at our house this year for Easter! Lots of fun times and LOTS of food!! Mom and Dad Wiebe brought amazing chicken...organic/free range/hormone free/antibiotic free...for us to roast on Sunday for dinner. It was SO good! Take one bite of this quality of chicken and you know it's the real deal...nothing beats it! And...like all good parents...they brought enough chicken to feed a small village! We did our best to work through it as a family...then tucked the leftovers in the fridge. Well...I soon realized after two meals of left-over chicken...that we had barely made a dent it in!! Then I saw parsnips in my fridge and knew right away what I would turn the left-overs into...chicken pot pie! Chicken that is roasted has such amazing flavour...so it adds an element to dishes like this that other meat doesn't.

This recipe of course could be made with any type of chicken...roasted, grilled, boiled...it's all the same!

Also...after shredding all the meat off the bones to prep it for the pie (I made 3...one for dinner and 2 for our freezer!!)...I realized that there was still enough to place into a medium size ziploc and keep on hand in the freezer to throw on pizza or add to any last minute supper...LOVE having that on hand!

This recipe, including the topping, should make an equivalent to two pie plates or one larger baking dish. Freezes VERY well!


Chicken Pot Pie


4 cups cooked chicken, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 carrots, chopped
3 ribs celery, chopped
2 parsnips, peeled and chopped
Salt and ground black pepper
3 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp flour (I use spelt)
1/2 cup white wine (optional...but really compliments the flavours)
1 cup milk (I use almond)
2 cup chicken stock
5-6 sprigs fresh tarragon, leaves picked and chopped (2 Tbsp dried)
3 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 cup frozen peas

Preheat the oven to 375.

Heat olive oil in large pan or dutch oven. Add the chopped onion, carrots, celery and parsnips to the pan, then season with salt and pepper and cover. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 7-8 minutes

When the veggies are tender, push them over to the side of the pan and add the butter to the center of the pot. Once the butter has melted, add the flour and cook for about a minute. Whisk in the white wine, if using, milk, chicken stock. Bring up to a simmer, then add the tarragon, Dijon mustard, peas and shredded chicken. Bring back up to a simmer, season with salt and pepper and cook until the sauce has thickened, 2-3 minutes.

Pastry Topping

Of course you can just buy some puffed pastry and add it on top...sometimes I even just use a few layers phyllo pastry on top to give it a light crispy finish. This time I tried something new...and it was awesome...here it is...

1 1/2 cups spelt flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup softened butter
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup honey
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 cup milk (I used almond)

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add all remaining ingredients. Mix just until a soft dough forms. Dot the biscuit dough over the chicken mixture. (I do a little layer of fresh ground pepper on top at this point!)

Bake 25 minutes, uncovered, until the biscuit is cooked through and golden on top. Serve & enjoy!

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Breakfast Cookies


I don't know about you...but I love the fact that I could eat these for breakfast everyday, and still feel great! I'm always tempted by those other 'Breakfast Cookies' that you see for sale in coffee shops...but I also know that they aren't actually good for me, so I stay away:)

So that's what the inspiration for these was. These are amazing...they feel like a treat...and can really be eaten anytime of day. They freeze amazingly...and even taste best straight from the freezer!

It's possible to make a ton of variations on this recipe, depending on your taste buds. Today I used a mix of dried blueberries, raw sunflower seeds, raw pumpkin seeds and chocolate chips. I wanted to add pecans, but forgot! I cut back on the almond flour, and add in oats...we like oats and it saves a little on the almond flour...but you can feel free to make them only with the flour (just add the extra 1/2 cup) and they will turn out great!

Enjoy!...I hope our house guests this weekend will!!!

Breakfast Cookies

2 cups of almond flour
1/2 cup oats
1/4 tsp of salt
1/4 tsp of baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup of coconut oil or melted butter
1/2 cup of maple syrup or honey
1 egg
1 tablespoon of vanilla
2 cups of nuts, dried fruit, seeds (or anything else your heart desires)

Directions

1. Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl.
2. Add the wet ingredients and blend it well with a spoon.
3. Drop a golf ball size portion onto the cookie sheet, flatten slightly.
4. Bake at 350 for about 12 minutes depending on the size. I make these quite large so that they are a complete breakfast!

Monday, April 4, 2011

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Ice Cream Cake!


Now that's a mouthful!! Don't you just love Levi's cheeky look in this photo??!! He totally dipped his finger in the cake!! I wonder who taught him that one:)

We celebrated my wonderful husband's birthday on Friday...yes...he's an April Fool baby...gotta love that!! You can't go wrong when making a dessert for Jay...he loves anything involving cake and ice-cream...so I thought I'd combine the two this year for him! I've made ice-cream cakes before...but kept them a little more on the simple side. I'm not even sure where the idea for this one came...but it was AMAZING...and SO simple to make! It got 5 gold stars all around in this house, and needless to say we rolled ourselves to bed afterwards! The leftovers got put in the freezer...and I don't think they'll last long!!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Ice-Cream Cake

Bake this cake...or any chocolate cake. This is a GREAT one though!

Freeze so it's easier to cut into layers.

Take frozen layers apart.

Start with one layer of cake...

Add one container of this...

Another layer of frozen cake...

Melt half a jar of this...pour over top...

Whip half a container of this until softened...smooth out on top! (note: you could use coconut milk vanilla here instead and this would be dairy free! Jay just happens to be a huge fan of this vanilla)

Voila!

Return to freezer until about 15 minutes before serving.

Ideally I would have melted some chocolate...thickened it a bit...put it in a piping bag and did some pretty designs on top...or wrote his name...but in the moment I just didn't think these 3 cake-hungry boys would care:) We'll save the pretty designs for another time!