Cooking With Emily: Chicken Pot Pie Casserole

Tuesday again, already.  I wonder where the days fly to, since individually they seem to stretch interminable before me lately.  Emily spent the weekend with her dad again and came home with a headache so her recipe choosing was delayed until over breakfast yesterday morning.
She came across a recipe for a "Cheesy Chicken Pot Pie" that sounded pretty good, but I suggested she make the recipe (for lack of a better word, since there is no actual recipe, it is a concoction of leftovers) I make, the dish she really likes & requests often.
Still she marked the magazine page and finished getting ready for school.  I went out to the deep freeze and found a container of meat I had boiled off the bones the last time I roasted chicken.
I had a container of chicken stock open in the fridge so I left the frozen stock for another day.

I caught up with my neglected housework and spent the afternoon catching up over coffee with a friend.  a pretty fine way to spend a Monday, if you ask me.
I called the sitter on my way home and Emily wheeled her bicycle into the driveway only moments behind me.  While she unpacked her lunch box I started sautéing an onion for her, as I tend to linger long over coffee & it was getting late.
I told her I had written out my "recipe" for her and she scanned it briefly asking for interpretation of some of my scrawl.  I told her there was a container of chicken on the counter which she dumped into a waiting baking dish.  I told her we could use frozen mixed vegetables, which do not need to be cooked before joining the chicken and she added those to the pan as well.  I have diced celery and carrots and added them to the sauté pan to soften, and added zucchini or any other vegetables lurking in the fridge to the mix as well, as well as frozen peas and corn.  It truly is a "clean out the fridge" meal.
After Emily unearthed the extra box of stuffing mix she bought a couple of weeks ago (I didn't feel like tackling baking powder biscuits) I told her to watch while I made the sauce.  It's basically white sauce with chicken stock instead of milk, but it is a method she needs to learn.  As I stirred in flour to make the roux she said, "That doesn't look like gravy," followed by, as I told her to wait & to watch, "It looks like cookie dough!"  I stirred in the stock slowly and soon had a gravy substitute.  I have used cream of chicken or mushroom soup for this too, so there are lots of options.
She prepared the stuffing mix while I poured the onions and gravy into the chicken and vegetables.  When the stuffing was done she spooned it over the mixture and put it into the oven for 20 minutes, enough time to heat every thing through.
She was eager to spoon my portion out for me, and apart from finding a small bone in her bowlful was delighted with the result.
The recipe, as I mentioned is filled with "OR"s and options, but she will learn that some casseroles and stir frys are a wonderful way to use up all those bits and pieces in the refrigerator, and learning a little creative economy is good for everyone.

Mom's Chicken Pot Pie

leftover diced chicken

several cups of mixed vegetables (frozen or fresh, sautéed or steamed) about the same volume as chicken

one onion, chopped and sautéed

1 cup chicken gravy/white sauce/cream of chicken soup (Or more if needed)

1-2 packages stuffing mix OR baking powder biscuits, unbaked

Combine chicken and vegetables, season with salt & pepper, pour gravy over all.  Top with prepared stuffing mix or baking powder biscuits (leaving space between for steam to escape) Bake until biscuits are done & casserole is heated through.

We had about a cup and a half of chicken and used an 8x8 pan.  A larger pan with more chicken would of course require 2 cups of sauce and twice the topping.  An 8x8 pan doesn't need a full recipe of biscuits (mine uses 2 cups of flour) so increase/decrease as needed.  This freezes well too, so I will sometimes make a second casserole & freeze it without the topping for some day when we're getting home late or I don't want to cook.

 

the space between

Every hello

inevitably brings

Goodbye

Farewell

See you soon

Too many, too many for my liking

Too soon, too soon....

Stay

One more hour

one more day

Stay here, with me

I know every farewell

is followed again by,

just as inevitably,

Hello

Welcome home

So good to see you

An endless circle

with too much space between

goodbye and hello

And not enough from

hello to goodbye.

Cooking with Emily: Chive & Onion Sweet Potato Mash

When we were kids sweet potatoes were a special occasion food.  I'm not sure why.  Maybe they weren't readily available, but I know they were, and still are, always a side dish at Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter dinner, as requisite as the turkey, stuffing and gravy.  And for these meals, despite their wonderful versatility, my sister insists we serve them mashed with mini marshmallows toasted on top.  I guess tradition still has its sway.  But sweet potatoes have become a favourite in our house all year round.  It took a little while for Emily to decide she did like them (she doesn't like marshmallows, so that could be the roadblock) but now they appear in all kinds of dishes.  I bake them, and make oven fries, roast them with other vegetables and add them to stews.
So I was hardly surprised when, as another long weekend was drawing to a close, she chose this recipe for her weekly culinary adventure.
I commented as I reviewed it that it was a side dish, wondering if she had considered we might need more than a bowl of creamy sweet potatoes for supper.  Her response? "I'll just cook some meat then."  Menu planning at its finest.
I found a couple of pork chops in the deep freeze and went on with the day.
As the supper hour approached I sent Emily to the kitchen to start peeling the potatoes, reminding her we were halving the recipe, since it made enough for 6.  While she peeled I softened a little cream cheese and stirred in a bunch of fresh chives from the garden along with a pinch of onion powder and some dehydrated onion, rather than making a trip to the store for the recommended flavoured cream cheese spread.
Emily was struggling with cutting the dense sweet potatoes into chunks to boil, so I lent a hand, concerned about both my counter top and her fingers.  She set them on the burner and went back to the game she was playing on her tablet.  We still need to work on focus, apparently.  We had a discussion about bacon bits; I suggested we omit them, since I hadn't thawed any bacon.  She told me we didn't need bacon, the recipe called for the "shaker stuff".  I don't buy bacon bits, and I told her so.
Then I rethought our options and found a package of bacon.  I thawed it in the microwave enough to free several slices which I chopped and put in a frying pan to crisp.  This gave Emily something to stir too.  Once the potatoes were almost tender I lit the barbeque and seasoned the pork chops.  Emily decided to go with frozen mixed vegetables to complete her meal, and poured them into a steamer while I took the chops out to the grill.
I came in to see if she needed help draining the now tender potatoes but she had it in hand, although she had used a colander, while I would have used the pot lid and had one less dish to wash.  Oh well. She mashed them easily and stirred in the cream cheese mixture and we covered them to keep them warm and went to check the barbeque.  I let her turn the chops and went back inside to turn the microwave on.  When I returned a few minutes later to check on the final stages of dinner I found my little chef in training not hovering over the grill but practising karate kicks in the garage, as she told me she wished she could break a board with her hand, because that would be cool.  (No, martial arts have never before been discussed or practised)
Dinner was very good, and I suggested she might start being in charge of the sweet potatoes for family dinners, since her cousin Hannah always makes a family favourite set salad.  She knows Aunt Nancy likes the marshmallow kind, so she suggested Aunt Nancy could pick off the bacon and put marshmallows on hers.  Always thinking that kid.

Chive & Onion Sweet Potato Mash

2 lbs sweet potatoes (about 4) peeled & cut into 1 1/12" chunks
1/2 cup chive & onion cream cheese spread (Or stir fresh chives & dehydrated onion flakes into softened cream cheese)
1 tablespoon bacon bits

Cook potatoes in boiling water until tender, 15-20 minutes.  Drain potatoes and mash until smooth.  Add cream cheese and stir until melted.  Sprinkle with bacon bits.

Cooking With Emily: Broccoli & Bacon Mac & Cheese

Easter break ended yesterday, and back to our everyday routine we returned, although we don't stray too far from it in any case.  Routine has always seemed to help my kids feel secure.  They know what to expect, and holidays or not  I still need "me" time at the end of the day, so bedtime remains the same, or close to it.  And not having children who believe in sleeping in regardless of when I tuck them in....well you can imagine.
Emily spent this past weekend at her dad's, and got home Sunday evening feeling crook (to quote my Australian friend, meaning she was feeling poorly.  Yes the slang is rubbing off :)  ) and with only enough time for a quick shower before bed.  She woke up in the morning feeling better, and I asked if she still planned to cook supper.  She grabbed a stack of recipe magazines and quickly found this one in the January/February issue of the Food Network Magazine.  It looked easy enough, so it was agreed upon and we returned to the routine (there's that safety net again!) of getting ready for school.
I am ever thankful her school has plenty of microwaves available for student use.  Making up a dish of leftovers is easier than sandwiches.  At least I think so.  And it makes Emily happy.

After school she spent an hour or so on the computer, writing a story for her teacher just because, I think.  She seems to really enjoy creating things, which warms her writer mother's heart.
In retrospect I should have sent her to the kitchen a little sooner to prepare all her ingredients, as she still lacks the skill of chopping & stirring and managing timing.  A lesson for us both.  Although I am a consummate procrastinator I have somehow learned to manage fairly precise kitchen timing.  I think, perhaps, some weekend night I will simply have her make a basic white sauce to truly learn the technique.  Who would have thought my Home Ec teacher was right?  (I stubbornly refused to memorize those basic recipes, although the years have imprinted them anyway)

I set a pot of water on to boil for the pasta while Emily chopped broccoli.  Once that was measured she started chopping bacon.  She was struggling, so I suggested she use the kitchen shears instead.  Now the process went a little faster.  We used regular bacon rather than the listed Canadian bacon because I had it on hand.  I did consider the ham in the refrigerator leftover from the Croque Monsieur sandwiches I made on the weekend, but I didn't feel like trying to explain the finer differences to a 10 year old.  And how can bacon be wrong?

She sauted the bacon and then removed it from the pan, stirring in some onion that I had chopped for her.  The recipe called for scallions, but again, I hadn't wanted to make a trip to the store.  While the onion was cooking we dipped out a cup of water from the pasta & broccoli water before draining it, now that the pasta was fully cooked.  I explained to her how to whisk in the flour while she measured out a couple teaspoons of Dijon mustard.  I was surprised she didn't comment on the smell, as she doesn't like mustard at all.  We then stirred in the reserved pasta water and some milk.  I stirred this while it thickened so Emily could measure out enough grated cheese from the bag in the fridge.  We had another discussion about the difference between 1 1/2 and 1/2....a discussion I pursued at dinner.  Fractions are still new at school, but necessary to be understood in the kitchen.  (I think I have learned more mathematics cooking and shopping than I ever did in the classroom).
She stirred in the shredded cheese (a blend of cheddar, mozzarella and Gruyère) and some Parmesan, It was followed shortly by the pasta and broccoli and the bacon.
Emily added more cheese to her bowlful at the table, I only stirred in a little extra pepper.  It was rich and creamy, a lovely, grown-up version of macaroni and cheese.  Not so great for cutting carbs as I am trying to do, but there is a whole week of menus for me to do that in.

Broccoli and Bacon Mac & Cheese

8oz cavatappi or other corkscrew pasta (we used sedani ritotti)

4 cups broccoli florets              

2 tablespoons butter (we eliminated this & used the bacon drippings instead)

4 slices Canadian bacon, chopped

4 scallions, chopped (or about 1/4 cup finely diced onion)

2 tablespoons flour

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard*

1 cup milk

1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Salt & pepper

Bring a pot of water to boil and add the pasta, adding the broccoli during the last 3 minutes of cooking time.  Reserve 1 cup of the cooking water before draining.

While the pasta is cooking melt the butter and cook the bacon until golden & crisp, transfer to a paper towel lined bowl, reserving the drippings.  

Add the scallion whites (or the onion) and cook until softened.  Whisk in the flour and the mustard, cooking until the flour is lightly toasted.  Whisk in the milk and pasta water, stirring until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.  Add the cheeses, whisking until creamy and the cheese is melted.

Stir in the pasta, broccoli and bacon, season with salt & pepper. Serve topped with the scallion greens.

* You could probably substitute regular yellow mustard for the Dijon, but Dijon has a stronger flavour and will and more depth and body to your dish.  And it tastes better on a sandwich.

Cooking With Emily: Tortilla Crepes

Breakfast for supper? Yes, please!  Breakfast for supper that looks more like dessert?  Oh, now you have my attention.
Sometime mid-morning on Monday, after several days of Easter feasting at Grandma's I asked Emily if she still intended to cook supper, and if she did to choose her recipe so I could make sure we had meat thawed and other necessary ingredients on hand.  It didn't take long before she announced she wanted to make crepes.  I admit I hesitated.  We don't have a crepe pan, which my "expert" (if she's had them once, at school, in French class) assured me we didn't need.  And, I was informed, she already knew how to make them.  Colour me surprised.  We've never made crepes.   Soon though she presented me with a recipe using tortilla shells which looked easy enough, and tortillas we almost always have around.  Still a trip to the store for strawberries (and raspberries, please) was in order.
We spent the rest of the day busy catching up from being away for a few days.  I don't know why a weekend away creates so much extra laundry, and Emily had brought home half her wardrobe, stashed in her locker piecemeal since Christmas.
Before she started cooking I arranged breakfast sausages in a baking dish and put them in the oven to bake, so much easier than doing them in a frying pan, and no spattered fat. 325F for about 30 minutes usually does the trick, with a tablespoon or so of water to steam them for the first several minutes.  Toward the end uncover them to brown.  Incidentally the oven is also the best way to do bacon.  Cover a jelly roll, or broiler pan, with parchment (easier clean up) and lay the bacon on the pan.  I rarely turn the bacon while it cooks, but you can.  By the time your pancakes are done so is the bacon.  And the extra pieces can be reheated for other breakfasts or for a lunchtime sandwich.

Anyway, back to the crepes.  We hulled and sliced a carton of strawberries, tossing them with 3 or 4 teaspoons of sugar.  The raspberries were rinsed and tossed with a little sugar as well.  I had also purchased kiwi fruit, but we didn't use these.  After indulging I have to add that peach slices would also work very well.  I suppose whatever strikes your fancy could be added.  More fruit equals less guilt? Works for me.

Emily spread flour tortillas with cream cheese then added berries, folding the tortilla in half, then dipping it in a mixture of beaten egg and milk.  The crepes were then placed in a pan with a little bit of hot oil to brown.  Emily got distracted cooking the first one, scorching it pretty well, but the others were lovely and golden.  We topped them with more berries and maple syrup, and a spoonful of the leftover frozen whipped topping from last weekend's birthday cake. (I knew there was a reason I bought too much!)
These were light and delicious and would be perfect for a leisurely weekend brunch.  Emily learned once more the value of paying attention in the kitchen.  Unless you have a refined and practised sense of timing you can not read or play games on your tablet while you are cooking.  Especially something that only needs a minute or so per side.

Tortilla Crepes

2 tablespoons sugar, divided                               1 egg

1 1/2 cups sliced fresh strawberries                    2 tablespoons milk

4 large flour tortillas                                            1 tablespoon oil

1/2 cup softened cream cheese                            maple syrup

Reserve 2 teaspoons of sugar, toss strawberries with the remainder, set aside.

Spread tortillas with cream cheese, spoon 1/4 cup strawberries onto each and fold in half.  

Whisk egg and milk together with reserved sugar in a shallow pan (ie a pie plate)

Heat oil in a large skillet on medium high heat.  One at a time dip filled tortillas in egg mixture; cook until lightly browned, about 1 minute a side.

Serve topped with remaining berries and maple syrup.

This made more than the two of us could eat, but Emily said they were still good reheated this morning.  I think I might try a bowl of mixed berries, peaches and/or kiwi fruit next time.  Why be limited?      

Cooking With Emily- Honey Fried Chicken

A day late, but yesterday got away from me, as days sometimes do.  I didn't have time to enjoy any leftovers from Monday night's kitchen adventure....
Ah well, there is plenty for lunch today, should be a great addition to a salad or a sandwich.

My chef in training is getting more adventurous, and surer that she can cook without supervision (although I assured her that because this involved hot oil she would definitely be supervised).  She has been given a couple of recipe books designed for collecting recipes and she has been busying herself on occasion going through my notebooks and recipe box copying out recipes.  Mostly it has been dishes she is familiar with, but sometimes something catches her eye.  That was the case with this recipe.  She came across it Saturday afternoon and announced, "This is what I'm making on Monday!"  I was surprised, since she doesn't like honey, but know it's a tasty dish, and not terribly difficult.  I've only  made it myself once or twice, since it was too spicy for the people I was cooking for, and then was just too much for the pair of us.
I glanced at it again, realizing the chicken needed marinating and that she wouldn't be home from school in time to allow for the 2 hours marinating time.  Then I suggested she make the marinade Monday morning and set it aside.  I could put the chicken in it at the appropriate time; or we could table it for next week, when she doesn't have school.  She opted for the former suggestion, not one to be deterred once she has made up her mind.

Monday morning, in the midst of the usual chaos of getting ready to start the day she measured together honey and wine vinegar.  She wondered if red wine vinegar was the best choice, but I explained I didn't have white wine vinegar, and that I had always used the red.  She measured and stirred, complaining she didn't like the smell of the vinegar as she recapped the bottle and put it away.
When she came home from school she asked when I had put the chicken in to marinate, doing the math in her head as to how long it had been in and when she could start cooking in earnest.
The recipe calls for a whole chicken, cut up, I had a package of chicken breasts in the freezer I used instead.  Either she didn't notice the substitution or she didn't read her recipe carefully.  Then again I rarely buy a whole chicken, just pieces, so maybe it didn't even register.
We had a discussion about side dishes, agreeing on the snap peas I had in the fridge and rice for her.
She turned the chicken again and I handed her a pie plate to mix her ingredient to dredge the chicken in.
Emily pulled out the big pail of flour, asking what my abbreviation "w wh" meant.  Whole wheat, I clarified (this what happens when you use your own shorthand!) Yes, we had some I assured her, in the  back, behind the sugar.  I measured oil into a pan and started it heating for her, and lay the chicken pieces on paper towel to drain.  When I looked back the dredge she had made looked very scant, so picking up her measuring spoons I asked which she had used.  The teaspoon.  I asked her to look at her recipe again.  OH.  I spooned in more flour and more cayenne pepper, which I had already advised she reduce, as the original amount can be quite overwhelming.
She deftly (I was impressed) coated the chicken breasts with the flour mixture and placed them in the oil as I started the rice for her.
The chicken turned out very good, although I did wonder if perhaps I shouldn't have had her cut back the cayenne quite so much, it seemed a little bland to me. but that's me.
Emily learned to always double check amounts, there is a huge difference between 2 teaspoons and 2 tablespoons....and even more a half cup.  But she is certainly learning to read a recipe and decide whether or not it is appealing.  She relished every bite, and took a plate of chicken, rice and vegetables to school for lunch the next day.

Honey Fried Chicken

1/2 cup honey                              2 tablespoons whole wheat flour

2 tablespoons wine vinegar         2 tablespoons cayenne pepper (we reduced it to 1 Tbsp)

1 chicken, cut up                         salt & pepper

1/2 cup flour

In a glass bowl combine honey, vinegar and chicken.  Marinate at least 2 hours.  

Combine white and whole wheat flour and cayenne pepper.  Remove chicken from marinade, drain on paper towel.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper, dredge in flour mixture.

Cook in hot oil (not deep fry) until browned & cooked through.