Catching up

Yesterday and today I had the pleasure of being off again for Jewish holidays (Sukkot this time). Yesterday I did not do very much, although I did manage a trip to one of the yarn stores in town to pick up wool for hats. Doug wants a plain winter hat and I want to make the Robin's Egg Blue. I bought some Cascade 220, Mission Falls superwash and a skein of Lamb's Pride Bulky for the Robin's Egg hat - in a pale green of course. I can't seem to stop knitting green things.

Today I got up and became good friends with a pot of coffee while I worked my way through months of paperwork neglect. Mainly medical insurance EOB papers, house stuff like copies of tax bills, tons of things that need to be shredded. This was just a small part of the pile.

I finally got it all done though, we need to buy a small file cabinet to keep all insurance and tax stuff in but other than that all the paper has gone. I threw away a massive garbage bag full of papers and have another huge bag of things I need to shred.

I did some mundane housework, like laundry, running the dishwasher and cleaning the bathrooms - very exciting. Since it's still not cooling off here (80's people, in mid-October) I'm trying to will it to happen. I decided to make homemade chicken pot pie for dinner, a nice warm comfort food. And since there's only two of us eating we have leftovers for days. The recipe is from a member of a cooking and recipe message board I'm on. The only changes I've made is I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts I cooked myself and I used more vegetables than it calls for. I've been making this for several years and it's an excellent recipe. It's not super healthy because of the heavy cream and the crusts but it would be good for a splurge dinner. The prep work is a little tiresome because of all the chopping but it's worth it.

(this isn't a super appetizing picture but trust me, it tastes great)

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Lavoie’s Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients
1 rotisserie chicken (cooked from the grocery store)
1 cup chicken broth
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 ½ cup of heavy cream
3 tablespoons butter
1 onion chopped
1 cup chopped celery
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 medium red potato, cubed with peel on
1 cup of fresh green bean, stemmed and cut in half
2 carrots, sliced
½ cup frozen peas
½ cup frozen corn
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
½ teaspoon dried thyme
Package of pie crusts (the ones from the dairy section). Get the one with 2 crusts, for a 9 inch
1 egg beaten

*You can use milk instead of the heavy cream, but it comes out a bit better with the heavy cream (it’s more watery with the milk). If you want to cut down on calories and fat, I suggest half and half. It’s actually fairly healthy though, aside from the cream.

Procedure
1. Remove chicken from the bones (easier to do when still warm), and cut up. Set aside. I cheat with the rotisserie chicken, because it is way easier, and it tastes better.

2. Steam carrots and green beans together until fork tender. Boil the cubed potato and then the corn/peas.

3. Combine the heavy cream and chicken broth and set aside.

4. In a saucepan, melt butter or margarine over medium heat. Add the onion and celery. Saute, stirring, for 3 minutes. Stir in flour until well blended. Gradually stir in broth mixture. Simmer, stirring constantly, until the sauce thickens and boils. Add the chicken, vegetables, potatoes, parsley, salt and pepper, and thyme. You should already have the bottom crust in the bottom of your pie plate or casserole dish.

5. Preheat oven to 400

6. Place second pastry on top of casserole. Cut a few slits in the pastry to let it breathe. Flute edges by pinching together. Brush pastry with beaten egg.

7. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbling. Let cool for 10 minutes and serve.