Merry Christmas!!!

On Christmas Eve, my mom, sister and I made Christmas cutout cookies and decorated them.  I don't have the recipe but I'm sure most people have made cutout cookies before.  :-)

So here is just a picture of some of the cookies we made and decorated.  (My mom made the ones with the white frosting, my sister and I wanted colored frosting and took more time on them.)

On another note, for a Christmas gift to my sister and mom, I found all of my grandma's recipes (or almost all of them) thanks to some assistance from my uncle and made a cookbook for them both.  I also added some pictures to make it a little more personal and fun.  Anyway, after 5oo+ pages, it was complete.  They both loved them and we all 3 cried.  It was a great gift for them both.  Here is a picture of the front cover.

Chicken Pot Pie

My friend Zac and I decided to get together and cook like we used to do before he got married to a wonderful woman and had a beautiful baby girl.  (Wife and baby were with her family early for Christmas... hi Erin and Addy!!)  Zac and I researched a few things and finally decided to make Chicken Pot Pie.  Looked fairly easy and very good!  Here is the recipe they had on allrecipes.com and then I will tell you the modifications we made.

Chicken Pot Pie

1 lb skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cubed

1 cup sliced carrots

1 cup frozen green peas

1/2 cup sliced celery

1/3 cup butter

1/3 cup chopped onion

1/3 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon celery seed

1 3/4 cups chicken broth

2/3 cup milk

2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts

1. In a saucepan, combine chicken, carrots, peas, and celery.  Add water to cover and boil for 15 mins.  Remove from heat, drain and set aside.
   
2. In another saucepan, over med heat, cook onions in butter 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.
   
3. Place chicken mixture in bottom pie crust.  Pour hot liquid mixture over.  Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough.  Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.
   
4. Bake in the preheated oven (425 deg F) for 30-35 mins, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly.  Cool for 10 mins before serving.
   

OK, as for our changes.  We didn't add onion or celery.  We added more peas and carrots and chicken instead.  We added more flour, chicken broth and milk so there would be more liquid.  We also used 2 regular 9 inch crusts and 2 deep dish.  We used the deep dish ones to actually hold the pie and used the regular ones for the top crust.  We also used chicken bouillon instead of chicken broth.  The last change was the temperature, we set it on 375 deg and baked it for about 40-45 mins instead.  (After reading some of the reviews, we didn't want it to burn.)

The pies turned out absolutely fabulous.  As Zac said, "That chicken pot pie was AWESOME!"  I will definitely make this one again, it wasn't difficult either.  I told Zac I would add broccoli next time though, but I like broccoli.

Here are some pictures from our cooking evening.

Zac shows me that the pies are ready to bake!

Here is one of the pies, ready to go in the oven:

YUM!!!  All ready to eat!  Doesn't that look delicious!

Mexican Casserole

Tonight I didn't want to go shopping and get ingredients to make brown sugar meatloaf, even though it is a favorite of mine, so instead, I decided I would make something with things I already had at home.  I must have been feeling very creative because what came out, sounded great together, so I figured... why not?

Anyway, so here is what I made:

Mexican Casserole

Ingredients

1 lb hamburger

1 can stewed tomatoes

4 stalks green onions

1 can corn

1 can cream of mushroom soup

Salt

Pepper

Oregano

Crushed Red Peppers

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Brown the hamburger and put in the bottom of a 9 x 12 baking dish.
3. On top of the hamburger, add the green onions.
4. Next layer is the stewed tomatoes.
5. On top of the tomatoes, add the can of corn.
6. The last layer is the cream of mushroom soup.
7. Then season with salt, pepper, oregano, and crushed red peppers to your taste.

I baked for about 30 minutes.  Long enough that it was heated through.

Anyway, here is a picture of what came out.  Next time, I may try putting tator tots on top.

Lots more Pies!

For our church Christmas party, I made 4 pies:  Chocolate Truffle Pie, Banana Cream Pie,Double Layer Pumpkin Pie, and No Bake Peanut Butter Pie.

All found on allrecipes.com except for the Banana Cream.  I have made the chocolate truffle many times and it is my absolute favorite. 

Truffle Pie:

 INGREDIENTS

• 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips (I use Ghiradelli chocolate chips) 
• 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 (9 inch) prepared chocolate cookie crumb crust (I use Oreo cookie crumb crust)

DIRECTIONS

1. In microwave dish combine chocolate chips and 1/2 of the cream. Cook on high for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds until smooth. Cool to room temperature. Stir in sugar & vanilla. Set aside.
2. In small bowl, beat the rest of the cream until soft peaks form. Beat in chocolate mixture on high speed 1/3 at a time. mix well and spoon into crust.
3. Refrigerate at least 8 hours before serving.

Banana Cream:

I buy 1 pkg banana cream pudding, 2 bananas, and a Pillsbury pie crust (can use graham cracker too).  Make the pudding with milk.  Bake the pie crust, then when cooled, I slice 2 bananas and line them around the bottom.  (If you put them on the top they get brown.)  Then when the pudding is ready, put into the pie pan.

Double Layer Pumpkin:

INGREDIENTS

• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker crust
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch ground cloves
• 1 pinch ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup frozen whipped topping, thawed

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Blend in eggs one at a time. Remove 1 cup of batter and spread into bottom of crust; set aside.
3. Add pumpkin, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg to the remaining batter and stir gently until well blended. Carefully spread over the batter in the crust.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until center is almost set. Allow to cool, then refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight. Cover with whipped topping before serving.

The only thing I did different was that I didn't use that much of the ground cloves.  It was really good without the cool whip, but I'm sure it was good with as well.

No Bake Peanut Butter:

INGREDIENTS

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup milk
• 1 (16 ounce) package frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 2 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker crusts

DIRECTIONS

1. Beat together cream cheese and confectioners' sugar. Mix in peanut butter and milk. Beat until smooth. Fold in whipped topping.
2. Spoon into two 9 inch graham cracker pie shells; cover, and freeze until firm.

This recipe is for 2 pies, I only made 1 pie, but I used 3/4 of a 16 oz tub of cool whip.  I also chopped up peanut butter cups and put in the pie, along with on top of the pie.  This was a fan favorite at the party.  I also recommend using an electric mixer for mixing everything together because it was very chunky with the cream cheese.

Apple Pie.... Oh my...

For Thanksgiving I decided I would try to make an apple pie.  I have heard from many that apple pie's are the hardest pies to make.  You don't want the apples to be mushy, but they can't be too hard.  The pie shouldn't be runny, etc.  I watched a cooking show that said if you put some unsalted crackers in the bottom, it would help to absorb the juice, so it won't be as runny.  So I thought I would try that trick as well.

I found a 5 star recipe on allrecipes.com and decided I would try that.  However, I think I messed it up somehow.  I think the sugar mixture was supposed to be thicker then it turned out.  The pie looked amazing when it came out of the oven, very pretty and very shiny.  This was also my first time making a lattice top.  It turned out pretty good!  I was shocked!  Anyway, here is a picture of it.

But as soon as we cut into it, it was very runny, and it wasn't as tasty as I thought it would be.  Oh well, live and learn.

Green Onion Hash Brown Potatoes

So I had left over green onions from the couscous soup, so I googled recipes with green onions, and came across a fabulous recipe from Rachael Ray called "Green Onion Hash Brown Potatoes".  It was fabulous!  So easy too!

Basically you take 2 tablespoons of butter, 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil and put in the a frying pan.  Then cut up some green onions and put into the oil/butter mixture.  After they cook up for about a minute, you put the cut up potatoes in.  I used red potatoes.  I also put a dash of Lawry's  seasoning on it.  It was really good.

Next time I will make it for breakfast along with some eggs!

I can't wait for Thanksgiving, I am going to bake up a storm.

Old fashioned evening

Tonight I was in the mood for some old fashioned cooking that my mom would make....well, sort of.

Tonight I made chicken with cream of mushroom soup on the top, baked in the oven.  Along with green bean casserole (green beans, cream of mushroom soup, and chow mien noodles on the top).  Plus a whole wheat dinner roll on the side (which I didn't make, Pillsbury did).

The chicken was seasoned with salt, pepper, and parsley, then cooked in a skillet for about 3 minutes on each side.  Then put into a baking dish with cream of mushroom soup on the top.

Very simple dish.... I know, nothing too exciting for this week, but I'm hoping next time I will break out something really fantastic!

Also, I made some acorn squash (not pictured).  Simply cut the squash in half, scrap out the seeds, put a tablespoon of butter in the middle of each side and some brown sugar, then place into a 8 x 11 pan with some water in the bottom and place in the oven for about 30-40 minutes.  When the squash is soft, it's done.  GOOD STUFF!

Couscous follow-up

So today I had some more couscous soup.  This time I added oregano, Uncle Tony's Cajun spice, and parsley.  I also chopped up the sun-dried tomatoes.  When I make couscous with vegetables, I typically use Uncle Tony's cajun spice and it is my favorite.  So I figured it had to be good in the soup!

It was definitely more flavorful this time around and the sun-dried tomatoes were much better when chopped into small pieces.  I definitely will use the cajun spice again, however,  I still wasn't a huge fan of the sun-dried tomatoes so I will probably skip them in my next leftover bowl.

According to Wikipedia, "freshly chopped green parsley is used as a topping for soups."  So although the parsley I used wasn't fresh, I think I chose a pretty good spice!

Couscous Soup

Today I experimented with a recipe I found 101 Cookbooks.com.  It was definitely different.  Here is the recipe:

7 cups vegetable broth

2-3 pinches crushed red pepper flakes

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 cup couscous

1 1/2 cups broccoli florets

1 1/2 cups cauliflower florets

4 oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes

4 green onions

Ounce or two of goat cheese

Heat the broth, red pepper flakes, and olive oil.  When it boils, remove the pot from the heat and stir in the couscous.  In two minutes, stir in the broccoli and cauliflower.  Then after another two minutes ladle into bowls and top each bowl with sun-dried tomatoes, green onions, and a bit of goat cheese.

I forgot to buy goat cheese, so that wasn't in the mix.  However, I found that the sun dried tomatoes were a bit much.  Next time, I will chop them up smaller.  I also found it to be a bit bland, so I will definitely add some more spices next time.  I think next time I will also try to add green or red bell peppers.

Here is a picture of my bowl of soup: