Chicken Flop Pie

Sunday was a lazy day.

Chibi and I went for a car ride.  I sipped coffee with my friend Heather.  Groceries were purchased.  Ingmarie and Laura stopped by for tea.  The weather was grey and gloomy.

It really was a perfect day for comfort food.  Specifically Chicken Pot Pie came to mind.  What’s more comforting than delicious chicken and veggies in creamy gravy and topped with puffy golden pastry?  Not much I say!

I sifted through the stack of recipe links stored in my internet Favourites and found the entry for Eat Live Run’s Chicken Pot Pie with Puff Pastry Crust.  Perfect!  I had puff pastry in the freezer.

As I prepped each stage I just knew this pot pie was going to be just what I wanted.

When I starting making the roux it came together perfectly.  Stirring at the gravy stage I even decided that this might possibly be an EPIC pot pie.  Once all of the filling was put together the taste-test confirmed that I was definitely onto something.  Jenna was right…I kept eating spoonful after spoonful of the filling.

Finally I forced myself to pour it into the casserole dish and actually make the pie! 

And then everything went awry.  My puff pastry didn’t come in sheets like Jenna’s did…it came in little cubes, with instructions to roll it out with a rolling pin.  So I did.  It seemed fine and laid nicely on top of the filling…. that is, until I tried to cut the slits and brush on the egg wash.  The pastry then started to sink into the gravy…uh-oh.

Oh well, I still followed the baking directions…10 minutes in the oven, then removed to top with foil and finish cooking.  (First of all – trying to cover a screeching hot casserole dish with foil is a freaking nightmare!)  I could tell that the pastry was way too gravy-logged to work out, but I baked it anyway.

But, alas I was right.  The gravy-logged pastry didn’t rise and certainly didn’t bake.  After the 25 minutes under foil it came out raw and looking like it had barely seen the oven.

SAD FACE! :(

Chicken Pot Pie without the crusty topping is just really thick stew!!

All was not lost as I just tossed out the gross raw pastry and proceeded to eat a bowl of Chicken Pot Stew with some buttery toast…but it just wasn’t the same!

Next time I’ll be sure to look for the sheets of puff pastry…and I think I’ll cut the slits and brush on the egg BEFORE placing the pastry on top of the filling.  The insides of this pie are worth figuring out the outsides!

Does anyone have any puff pastry tips for me?  Did I go wrong somewhere?

Get Poached

This morning I awoke to my internet connection battling me for my sanity.  While I sat and rebooted my modem and router a gajillion times I sipped my coffee.  When it finally stayed online I made breakfast...

This is becoming a habit.  Organic non-fat vanilla yogurt with blueberries and Kashi Go Lean. 

I am actually hoping for farm fresh strawberries at the market this weekend. I passed them up last time and have been kicking myself for it.

Hoping to get to the grocery store before lunch I tried to hold myself over with a small snack...1/2 Royal Gala apple.

Not surprisingly this didn't cut it, so I ended up swapping my lunch and dinner plans and made a chicken salad sammich.

Diced chicken breast, raisins, pumpkin seeds, dill, and olive oil mayo.

A few fresh Thai basil leaves for sammich pizzazz!

Smooooshed between a toasted sammich thin and served with garlic stuffed olives and more deeeeeeelish cherry tomatoes.

After another hour of work I made time for a trip to the grocery store, complete with iced coffee.  I went armed with a meal plan, a shopping list, and a budget.  My fridge is very happy right now. 

While I finished work for the day I snacked on marble cheeeeese & RainCoast Crisp crackers...

Knowing I was heading to a 7pm movie I had really thought ahead about how to avoid the mezmorizing pull to the popcorn counter.  My plan:  BIGASS SALAD!

I figured if dinner was fresh and full in my belly then I wouldn't want to snack my way through the movie.  It worked.  The popcorn smelled fan-freaking-tastic but we walked on by!!

The salad that saved the day...

In the big silver bowl:  baby spinach, cucumber, carrots, radishes, yellow peppers and cherry tomatoes

Tossed with olive oil and coarse salt...and topped with a poached egg.

Even though you've read this on a thousand other blogs...here it is anyway.

How to Poach an Egg

• Fill a shallow saucepan about 1/3 full of water.  Set it to boil.

• When boiling, add a drizzle of vinegar.  White is best so it won't discolour your egg.  I had White Wine Vinegar on hand.

• Crack your egg into a side dish (to ensure it's good, but also for ease of poaching).

• Reduce water heat to med-high so the water is still boiling but not rumbling.  Lightly swirl the water with a spoon, and carefully pour the egg into the center of the whirlpool.

• That's it.  Let cook approx 3 minutes for soft, 4 minutes for medium, or longer for well done.
• Scoop your cooked egg out with a slotted spoon.  Let rest on a paper towel to absorb excess water.

• Serve!

• Devour.  Nom nom nom.

I may be the last adult female on the planet to finally see Eclipse.  Well no, because Tiffaney was with me...so there are two of us.  Jacob stole the show yet again!  The one liners are so bad they are classic. 

Back at home and proud of the "no popcorn" event I rewarded myself with dessert.  Counterproductive?  No way.  Normally I would have had both!!

Besides, now this tub of ice cream is empty and no longer hanging around taunting me from the freezer.  :)

Sunday Dinner

I always say I’m going to attempt to implement Sunday dinners around here, but inevitably something happens.  We end up with other leftovers, or make plans to go out, or opt to fend for ourselves…something!  Well, this weekend I finally planned ahead and got it done!

Pork Loin Roast

Just a little 2 pounder (barely).  Prepared simply by piercing slits into the roast which I stuffed with slices of fresh garlic and sprigs of fresh rosemary. 

Also smeared with a bit of herby butter: 1 tsp butter, salt, pepper, and finely chopped rosemary.

Let stand about one hour, then roast in a 375 degree oven for 45 minutes.  Cover loosely with foil and let rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing.

Alongside we served roasted white potatoes.  Clean and cut into chunks, boil for about 10 minutes, then drain and let cool.

Toss with a big drizzle of olive oil, lots of salt, pepper, ground thyme and more rosemary sprigs (I would also have added a bit of garlic powder but we are out).  Bake alongside the roast for about 30 minutes, until crisp.  (I let them continue baking while the roast rested…so about 40 minutes in total.)

 

All together with steamed broccoli. 

Success! 

For dessert we had cupcakes!  Surprise!  :)

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In addition to this meal I attempted to make Broccoli Cheese Soup (healthy style!).  I have beautiful pictures and it was absolutely perfect…right up until I added the cheese.  It curdled.  What the hell?  It’s still edible but nowhere near as lovely as it was just 2 minutes earlier.

Anyone know the trick to adding the cheese without it separating in the soup?

Avocados aren’t scary!

The last time I made guacamole a lot of comments and questions about how to cut an avocado came up.  I promised a tutorial but then didn’t buy avocados for a while.  Oooooops, sorry.  So here it is now!

How to prepare an avocado:

Slice your avocado in half by running a sharp knife all the way around it lengthwise:

Twist the two halves apart:

Whack the pit with your sharp knife, then lightly twist to pop it out:

Use the tip of your knife to cut either slices or cubes into the flesh while it’s still in the skin:

Run a big spoon under the edges all the way around the flesh to separate it from the skin:

That’s it.  Easy peasy. 

I turned mine into my (self proclaimed) world famous guacamole.  ;)  Extra lime!

Which I then used as a topper for these delicious Turkey & Black Bean burgers. 

Served on ciabatta bread with tomato slices… mixed green salad on the side.

Check out the height on this bad boy!  I ended up eating it open-faced and ditched the top half of the “bun”.  The guac with the burgers was a flavor explosion made in heaven.  Seriously people…try these.  I’m so excited for leftovers tomorrow!!!

Tonight we are off to see Star Trek at the theatre.  I’m looking forward to either a kids pack or some frozen yogurt.  *runs off to check online nutritionals for TCBY*  :)