Chicken Pot Pie

Another recipe I tried from www.ourbestbites.com!!! It turned out wonderful. I also had plenty of filling left over, it wouldn't all fit in one pan, so plan on making 4 pie crusts. I put my pot pie in a small 8*8 casserole dish instead of a pie pan, and used a little bit of leftover pie crust to cover a small individual dish (that turned out great!).
Like they suggested on the website, you can make one (or two) larger chicken pot pies, or make several individual-sized ones by using prep bowls or anything small that you can put in the oven. For those little pies, you only need to cover it with a crust (you don't need to put any lining the bowl), so you'd save on crust there. It is also GREAT to freeze and reheat later! Or to take as a lunch!

Ingredients:
2 unbaked pie crusts
1 lb leftover chicken, chopped (you can use any kind of chicken really)
1 12-16 oz bag of mixed veggies, thawed
1 onion, minced
butter
5 medium potatoes (red), diced (I used regular potatoes, worked just fine)
2 cans of cream of chicken soup (or see the homemade recipe below)
1/2 tsp kosher salt
ground black pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 400
2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add potatoes and boil until tender.
3. Meanwhile, heat +/- 1 tbs butter in a medium skillet. Saute the onion (and I put in my chopped raw chicken as well) until translucent and fragrant.
4. In a mixing bowl, combine cream of chicken soup, chicken, veggies, onion and potatoes. Season to taste.
5. Place 1 pie crust on the bottom of a pie plate, add filling, top w/ other crust. Crimp the edges and cut vent holes on top.
6. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 40-45 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Allow to stand a few minutes before serving.

Serves 6-8. Enjoy!

Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup

Have you ever run out of cream of chicken soup when you bake a casserole or make chicken pot pie? Well, I made this last night for our chicken pot pie cause I didn't have any canned stuff, and it turned out WONDERFUL! And soooooo easy!
I got this recipe off www.ourbestbites.com, great website.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c chicken broth
1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp parsley
dash of paprika
1 1/2 c milk, divided
3/4 c flour

Instructions:

1. In a medium-sized saucepan, bring chicken broth, seasonings and 1/2 c of the milk to a boil.
2. In a bowl, whisk together the remaining 1 cup of milk and the flour.
3. Add to boiling mixture and whisk briskly until mixture thickens (shouldn't take long at all, mine was done almost immediately).
4. Cook until desired consistency is reached, keeping in mind that it will continue to thicken as it stands.

Makes the equivalent of 2 cans of condensed cream of chicken soup!

.:Holiday Baking:.

Here's what I made this year:

** Homemade Thin Mints **

I've already done a tutorial/recipe for these before on my other blog (probably put them on here, too!), so just check out the link. They are super easy and really quite tasty!

** Peppermint Bark **

I used the recipe and directions found over at The Idea Room.

12 oz bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips (you could also use baking chips, bark, etc.)

1 pound white chocolate (I just used one bag of white chocolate chips - close enough to a pound!)

Candy canes

Peppermint extract

Pre-heat your oven to 250.

Line your cookie sheet with foil and spray it. (She used a 9x13 dish, which I'll talk about later in the post.)

Cover the lining evenly with your semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Bake for about 5 minutes or until they look melted.

Use a spatula to spread out your chocolate evenly. Place in the fridge to harden.

You can melt your white chocolate however you want. I always brave the microwave! I melted my chips for about 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between intervals.

Add your peppermint extract (to taste).

Pour over your hardened chocolate, and spread evenly - and quickly! It starts to harden up quickly!

Sprinkle your crushed up candy canes over the top. Place in fridge to harden.

Remove the foil from the cookie sheet and shake off the excess candy. Cut your bark however you'd like.

Sooo....I didn't do so well with my first batch of bark. I didn't spread my white chocolate quickly enough, so not a lot of candy stuck to it. (As you can see!) I decided to give it another try doing it with 9x13 dishes.

This worked great. I also put my candy in a strainer and let the powder go through into my melted white chocolate, along with the peppermint extract. I like the look and the taste this gave my bark. Then the larger pieces are what I sprinkled on top.

Now, I had a problem with both of my batches. When I cut the bark, almost always my two layers of chocolate would separate. I know the white layer alone will taste delicious, and I also know that people can just hold the two layers together as they eat it. But why would it not stick together??? Can someone help me out? I was so frustrated that I about swore off ever making bark again!

** Chocolate Candy Cane Whoopie Pies:.

My mom posted this recipe on her blog a week or two ago, and I decided to put my own spin on it.

I decided to make cake mix cookies instead of cookies from scratch. Call me lazy if you want (I also used canned frosting!) but I also really love cake mix cookies.

So here's what you need:

Cake mix

1/2 c. oil

2 eggs

frosting

crushed candy canes

peppermint extract

Andes baking bits (optional)

Pre- heat your oven to 350.

Mix your cake mix, oil, and eggs.

Stir in your baking bits. (I LOVE these candy cane bits!)

Put scoops of dough on your cookie sheet.

Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Let your cookies cool completely before adding frosting!

I mixed peppermint extract and red food coloring into my canned vanilla frosting. I just add extract to taste.

Frost one cookie and then roll the edges in the crushed candy canes. My mom's recipe says to frost the cookie and place the other cookie on top to make a sandwich before rolling the edges, but I found it easier to roll the edges before the second cookie was added.

Add your other cookie on top.

DONE! And delicious!

I also made another batch with just regular Andes baking bits - not the candy cane ones, but the chocolate and mint ones. For those, I used chocolate frosting instead of the peppermint frosting, and still rolled the edges in candy canes. Yum!

Chicken, Spinach, Mushroom Quesadillas

These turned out to be quite delicious and simple! All you need is tortillas, chicken (I boiled mine and shredded it), cheese, mushrooms, spinach leaves, and tomatoes (opt.)

Combine all of the ingredients into the tortilla.

And then I used my george foreman to grill them. Yum in the tum!

Moist Banana Bread

I've been wanting to make this for a while, cause we always have overripe bananas lying around that I end up throwing away. I found this recipe online (google search, don't know where), I was looking for one that was relatively healthy but still moist. I heard substituting the butter for applesauce is a good idea too, but I didn't do that.

2 cups plain flour
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
2 eggs (beaten)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 cups mashed overripe bananas (about 3 bananas)
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
1 tsp vanilla
Optional for topping: sliced bananas, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp sugar
Optional for filling: 1/2 cup of walnut pieces, 1/2-1 cup of chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour a loaf pan.
2. Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, vanilla, yogurt and mashed bananas and mix well.
3. Slowly stir in the flour, a little at a time. Then mix in the baking soda and salt, mixing thoroughly. (Opt) Fold in the walnuts or chocolate chips. (I chose walnuts)
4. Pour mixture into loaf pan. If too stiff, add more yogurt and mix well. Only add in a little at a time.
5. (Opt)Place banana slices on top of the mixture in the pan and then sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar (I just did the cinnamon sugar, yum!)
6. Bake in the center of the oven at 350F for +- 60 min, checking by inserting a knife or toothpick in center until it comes out clean. (Mine took 60 min exactly)
7. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before placing on wire rack.

The best thing for these kinds of breads is to leave them overnight covered in seran wrap after they cool. It seems they become more dense and moist this way!

Sorry I'd have a picture but our bread is almost all gone already! ;)

.:Pumpkin Muffins:.

My sister gave me this recipe a couple of falls ago, and it has become a traditional favorite at our house! This recipe makes a TON, so I usually do half of it with butterscotch chips and the other half with chocolate chips. They are a great visiting teaching or neighbor gift, or even just to freeze for later, and believe me, you'll have plenty to go around!

INGREDIENTS

3 c pumpkin (be sure not to get the pie filling!)
1 1/2 c vegetable oil
4 c sugar
6 eggs
4 3/4 c flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1 1/2 t baking soda
1 1/2 t salt
1 1/2 t cinnamon
1 1/2 t nutmeg
1 1/2 t cloves
1 pkg. butterscotch chips (or chocolate chips - or both!)

Pre-heat your oven to 350.

Mix the pumpkin, oil, sugar and eggs.

In a separate bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients (except the chips) and mix.

Stir in with the pumpkin mix.

Stir in chips. (Be sure to set aside half of your batter if you are choosing to do half butterscotch chips and half chocolate chips.)

Line your muffin tin (if you are a liner sort of baker - I despise cleaning out muffin tins, so I always have to line mine!) Fill 2/3 full with batter.

Bake 18-20 minutes. (My oven is more on the 25 minute side, and they were still very moist and soft!)

.:Fluffy French Toast:.

We are having this for dinner tonite so I thought I would share!

FLUFFY FRENCH TOAST

1/4 c flour
1 c milk
1 pinch salt
3 eggs
1 t vanilla
1/2 t cinnamon
1 T white sugar
12 thick slices of bread (Texas Toast works great, but we're using Grandma Sycamore bread tonite)

* Mix all ingredients together

* Soak both sides of bread

* Cook on griddle on medium heat