Mostly Homemade Chicken Pot Pie

Growing up, I used to love the freezer chicken pot pies. On a cold, wet day, they were the perfect comfort food. As an adult, and especially as one who tries to pay attention to what I eat, I've avoided pot pies altogether. Between the fat and the sodium, I haven't even wanted to try.

But, with the Polar Vortex descending, I found myself craving crusty, gooey, chicken and veggies. So, I ran around the internet a bit, but never quite found something that was perfect. The recipe below borrows a bit from a couple of easily accessed recipes, but I mostly just threw stuff into the pot.

Mostly Homemade Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients:

• 1 Tube low-fat crescent rolls (or biscuits of your choice)
• 1.5 cups chicken broth
• 3/4 cups chopped onions (or a sprinkle of dehydrated onions, if you hate onions like I do)
• 1 cup potato, chopped
• 1 cup carrots, chopped
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 large chicken breast, cut into pieces
• 3/4 cup reduced fat milk
• 1/4 cup AP flour
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. In a large pan, bring broth to a boil
3. Stir in all vegetables except peas, return to a boil, then let simmer for 5-6 minutes
4. Add chicken and frozen peas, return to boil, then let simmer for 5 minutes
5. In a separate bowl, slowly whisk milk into flour until well blended
6. Add flour mixture into chicken mixture and stir well. Turn heat to medium and allow to thicken, approximately 5 minutes
7. Add thyme, salt, and pepper, mix well. 
8. Coat individual ramekins (or a larger dish, your choice!) with PAM or another non-stick spray
9. Lay one biscuit into the bottom of the ramekin, and pour 1/4 of chicken mixture over biscuit. Layer additional biscuit over top of chicken mixture. Repeat for remaining ramekins. 
10. Place all ramekins on a baking sheet and slide into oven for 14 minutes, or until biscuit on top is golden brown. 

Om nom nom. This was really great, and we actually fought over the leftovers. I may decide to forgo the bottom biscuit in future. While tasty, I'm not sure it outweighed the added calories. Otherwise, this was very yummy.

Oh, and as always use caution when opening canned biscuits. I was chatting with a friend while I made these, and he sent me this:

True life, people. I get tense just watching this.

It's Not Just For Loaf Pans: Meatloaf Cupcakes

One of Mr. C's most requested meals is meatloaf cupcakes. It is a twist on the old standby that I stole from one of my favorite food blogs, Iowa Girl Eats. The big secret here? Meatloaf doesn't have to be cooked in a loaf pan. In fact, it doesn't technically have to be in any sort of shaping container at all.

Case in point, for Halloween last year, I made Mr. C a themed dinner; steamed swamp trees, mashed rat brains, and a baked werewolf paw. He didn't think my idea was nearly as adorable as I thought it was, but he did think it tasted delicious. The werewolf by was the meatloaf, with some onion pieces stuck in for decoration and a slice of cheese on top for effect.

Halloween '12: I made two of the paws, and they took us about three days to eat!

So, I guess you could say it has been awhile since I've felt confined by the traditional bounds of a loaf pan when it comes to my meatloaf. I've also significantly tweaked the meatloaf recipe, at least compared to how my mom used to make it!

For Meatloaf Cupcakes: 
1 pound Ground turkey (I used 97/3 this time)
1 shredded medium zucchini, drained
1 handful shredded baby carrots, drained
2 tablespoons minced onion
1/2 cup whole wheat breadcrumbs
1 tablespoons worchestershire sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
Whatever seasonings you like. I normally dash in garlic, some italian herbs, or whatever else I have handy.
Dollop of ketchup and worchestershire sauce for topping

For Creamy Mashed Potatoes: 
1 pound potatoes (I normally use red or yellow, although my rat brains were purple!)
3 tablespoons greek yogurt
3 tablespoons broth
2 tablespoons skim milk
1 tablespoon butter
A dash garlic salt
A sprinkle of pepper

See all of those yummy carrot and zucchini chunks in there? Sneaky veggies!

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Combine all meatloaf ingredients and mix well. Scoop mixture into muffin tin*
3. Spread a dollop of ketchup/worchestershire sauce on top of the meatloaf
4. Bake for 22-24 minutes
5. Meanwhile, cut potatoes into equal pieces and place in pot of cold water
6. Bring pot to boil and cook until potatoes are tender
7. Drain potatoes and return to pot.
8. Add remaining mashed potato ingredients and mash to desired consistency.
9. Remove meatloaf cupcakes from pan and place on plate
10. Scoop generous spoonfull of mashed potatoes on top of the cupcake like "frosting"
11. Enjoy!

Unfortunately we ate all of the cupcakes before I got any completed pictures!

It's What's for Dinner, or Groceries and Recipes

I feel like we've divided the chores in our place pretty well. Mr. C has absolutely no interest in cooking whatsoever, so I do almost all of the food prep in our house. As payback, Mr. C takes point on laundry and also does most of the post-dinner dishes.

Overall, I probably spend around 2-3 hours over the course of a week gathering recipes, figuring out the best schedule for meals, and prepping our food. We go grocery shopping together, from the list that I put together. Here's what this week's list looked like:

Vegetables/Fruit

Zucchini

Broccoli

Spinach

Apples

Fish/Meat

93/7 Ground turkey

Chicken breasts

Frozen salmon

Carbohydrates

Whole Wheat Rotini

Whole Wheat Spaghetti

Canned black beans

Canned cannelini beans

Dairy

Shredded cheese

Reduced Fat Feta

Fat Free Greek Yogurt

Condiments

Rice wine vinegar

Light sodium soy sauce

Snacks

Vegetable tortilla chips

Pretzel rods

Honey mustard dip

This is pretty typical of what we buy when we go grocery shopping, which happens about every week and a half. Our pantry is pretty well stocked, so we only need to occasionally buy things like the vinegars and soy sauce. We go through quite a bit of pasta and beans, and I work hard to incorporate lots of fresh vegetables. 

So, you've seen the groceries. But, what do we actually do with them? To make planning a little simpler, I've loosely assigned cutesy names to each day of the week, to give me at least a little bit of guidance. Here's the list of what we're cooking chez us this week. 

Meatless Monday: Grown up mac & cheese with beans and squash

Turkey (or other poultry) Tuesday: Greek turkey burgers

Wok Wednesday: Crockpot cashew chicken

Thursday night I've got a meeting at work, so Mr. C and I are on our own (which likely means Subway for supper)

Fiesta Friday: Black bean quesadilla

Scrimping Saturday: Leftovers!

Seafood Sunday: Grilled salmon

Then into next week, it looks like this: 

Meatless Monday: Broccoli peanut pasta

Turkey Tuesday: Chicken with a homemade creamy pesto crust

Wok Wednesday: Spicy salmon stir fry

Lunches are made up of a combination of leftovers, soups we've got in the freezer, crockpot bbq chicken, and Mr. C often goes out for lunch with coworkers.

So, that's our meals. I'll try to share some of the recipes as we make them, and hopefully I'll remember to take pictures before we eat all of it!

P.F. Chang's Lettuce Wrap Hack

Tonight was really my first foray back into cooking since my shoulder surgery last month. I still have to be a little careful with how I use it, but we are pretty much out of the food that we prepped and froze before the surgery and you can only eat at Panera so many times in a week.

One of my favorite food blogs, for a variety of reasons, is Iowa Girl Eats. Being an Iowa girl myself, I love hearing little tidbits of what's going on in the Des Moines area. She also has a very similar philosophy to mine when it comes to cooking. I read it every week, and have a whole list of her recipes I already use or want to try out.

This one is the hack of P.F. Chang's Lettuce Wraps. Neither my mom or I are huge shoppers, but the times when I'm home and we've needed to head to the mall, we often stop to refill our tanks at the P. F. Chang's in Jordan Creek. Almost every time, we manage to wolf down the lettuce wraps, hot and sour soup, and the honey shrimp. But, as IGE notes on her post about it, the wraps are super greasy. She adapted the recipe to be a little more health friendly, and here's my take.

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients
1lb chicken breast, finely chopped
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp dried onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1" knob ginger, peeled and minced
2 1/2 tbsp soy sauce (next time I will use low sodium!)
1 tbsp + 1 tsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp peanut butter
1/2 tbsp water
1/2 tbsp honey
2 tsp chili garlic sauce
dash of pepper
3 chopped baby carrots (original recipe called for water chestnuts and green onions, which I managed to forget when we went to the grocery store. I substituted carrots to try to get some crunch.)
1/4 cup peanuts, chopped
Green leaf lettuce leaves

Directions

1. Spray saute pan with non-stick spray, and add onion, chicken, salt, and pepper and cook over high (Next time, I will exclude the salt. It tasted WAY too salty)
2. Once chicken is nearly done, add ginger, garlic, peanuts, and chopped carrots. Continue cooking until chicken is cooked through. 
3. Mix all but last ingredient into microwave dish. Zap for 20 seconds in a microwave and stir. 
4. Add 3/4 of sauce to chicken, stir to incorporate.
5. Serve chicken wrapped in lettuce leaves, with remaining sauce on top. 

Mr. C took one bite and said "it tastes just like P.F. Chang's!" Granted, I think it has been awhile since either of us actually had the real thing, but it wasn't bad. The only downside was the sodium content was VERY high. Mr. C didn't mind, but I'm on my second glass of water. Next time I'll switch over to low sodium soy sauce and add salt later if it needs it. Otherwise, it turned out pretty darn well!